Age Limitation for Organ Transplantation: The Israeli Example

Abstract

In 2013 the Israeli Ministry of Health appointed a public committee to examine the policy of placing an age limitation on candidates listed for organ transplantation. The committee rejected the use of an age limit criterion for listing candidates for transplantation and recommended to abolish it. However, opinions differed regarding the use of recipients’ age in shaping a fair organ allocation policy. The committee's recommendations were adopted and put into force as of April 2014. This article unfolds the committee deliberations on accommodating values of formal equality for optimising the use of organ transplantation.

Keywords: Older People, Organ Transplantation, Age Limit, Israel, Ageism, Age Discrimination

JEL Classification: I12, I14, I18, K19