Problem
Designated Donor by Race
"We want to ask you to consider letting Mattie be an organ donor." Barbara Zipple said. She was the nurse assigned by the Transplant Service to talk with the families of patients who had been declared dead, but we're good candidates for organ donation.
"Would they cut her up more?" Lilly Warder, Mattie's mother, asked.
"It's like an ordinary operation, Barbara said. "Once they remove the organs, they'll sew her up again. You won't be able to tell her organs have been donated."
"I don't know. Mrs. Warder shook her head. "It's like stealing from somebody's body. I don't like the idea."
"Do you know what Mattie would have wanted?" Barbara asked. "Did she like helping other people?
"That's what she lived for" Mrs. Warder put her hand over her eves for a moment. "Could you make sure they go to black people?"
"That's not something we can promise." Barbara shook her head. "Organs go to people who are most in need, no matter what race or gender or religion."
"Then I'm not sure I ought to give them away. Mrs. Warder shook her head. "Doctors took advantage of black folks in the past, and I'd like to try to make up for that."
Task
a) Can Mrs. Warder's attempt to address wrongs done to black people by the medical community be defended on moral grounds?
b) Black people are kidney recipients significantly more often than they are kidney donors. Can an ethical case be made for race-based organ distribution system?