Ethics Committee

The Ethics Committee aims to guide the policies and practices of the OPTN related to organ donation, procurement, distribution, allocation, and transplantation so they are consistent with ethical principles. The Committee makes recommendations to Board of Directors for changing, creating, or eliminating policies if warranted by ethical concerns. The Committee also provides written guidance pertaining to ethical considerations to OPTN members, after approval by the Board of Directors. The Committee does not address individual patient issues or disputes.

Current Projects

Review

Implemented

Transparency in Program Selection (1/2023)
Ethical Considerations of Continuous Distribution in Organ Allocation (2/2022)
Revise General Considerations In Assessment for Transplant Candidacy (7/2021)
Ethical implications of multi organ transplants (1/2019)
White paper on manipulating waitlist priority (1/2018)
Living donation by persons with certain fatal diseases (7/2017)
Ethical considerations of imminent death donation (8/2016)
Ethics of deceased organ recovery white paper (8/2016)
Split versus whole liver transplantation white paper (8/2016)

Chair

Dr. Andrew Flescher
University Hospital of State University of New York at Stony Brook

Vice Chair

Dr. Sanjay Kulkarni
Yale New Haven Hospital

Liaison

Kieran McMahon
UNOS Employee
kieran.mcmahon@unos.org

Members	Organization	Position	End Term Date
Dr. Melissa D Anderson	General Public Region 10	Region 10 Representative	6/30/2024
Dr. James S Bowman	Division of Transplantation, HHS	Ex Officio (non voting)	6/30/2025
Ms. Sheila Nichols Bullock	VCU Health System Authority, VCUMC	Region 11 Representative	6/30/2026
Ms. Laura L Butler	Montefiore Medical Center	Visiting Board Member	6/30/2024
Andrew M Courtwright	Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania	Region 2 Representative	6/30/2026
Jennifer Dillon	General Public Region 9	Region 9 Representative	6/30/2025
Dr. Thao N Galvan	CHI St. Luke's Health Baylor College of Medicine Medical Center	Region 4 Representative	6/30/2024
Laura J Jokimaki	Ascension St. John Hospital	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Keren Ladin	General Public Region 1	Ex Officio	6/30/2025
Dr. Marilyn E Levi	Division of Transplantation, HHS	Ex Officio (non voting)	6/30/2025
Lisa A Paolillo	New England Organ Bank	Region 1 Representative	6/30/2026
Dr. Ehab R Saad	Froedtert Memorial Lutheran Hospital	Region 7 Representative	6/30/2024
Lois Shepherd	General Public Region 11	At Large	6/30/2026
Dr. Erica J Stohs	The Nebraska Medical Center	Region 8 Representative	6/30/2025
Dr. Carrie Thiessen	University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics	At Large	6/30/2024
Dr. Robert D Truog	General Public Region 1	At Large	6/30/2025
Ms. Megan Urbanski	General Public Region 3	Region 3 Representative	6/30/2025
Ms. Felicia Wells-Williams	Legacy of Life Hawaii	Region 6 Representative	6/30/2025
Ms. Sena A Wilson-Sheehan	Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona	Region 5 Representative	6/30/2024

August 17, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 125 K)
July 20, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 178 K)
June 8, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 115 K)
May 11, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 119 K)
April 20, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 149 K)
March 31, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 271 K)
March 2, 2023 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 140 K)
February 16, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 151 K)
January 26, 2023 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 110 K)
January 19, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 192K)
December 15, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 149K)
December 8, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 146 K)
December 8, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 137 K)
November 17, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 177 K)
November 10, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 132 K)
November 9, 2022 Ethics - Multiple Listing Subcommittee (PDF - 129 K)
October 27, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF 147 K)
October 21, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 222 K)
October 13, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 111 K)
October 12, 2022 Ethics - Multiple Listing Subcommittee (PDF - 109 K)
October 6, 2022 Ethics - Transparency in Program Selection Workgroup (PDF - 172 K)
September 27, 2022 Ethics - Transparency in Program Selection Workgroup (PDF - 182 K)
September 22, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 134 K)
September 15, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 136 K)
September 15, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 172 K)
September 14, 2022 Ethics - Multiple Listing Subcommittee (PDF - 136 K)
September 13, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 116 K)
September 12, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 124 K)
September 8, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 144 K)
August 25, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 112 K)
August 18, 2022 Ethics - (PDF - 148 K)
August 11, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 122 K)
August 10, 2022 Ethics - Multiple Listing Subcommittee (PDF - 130 K)
August 4, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 124 K)
July 21, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 113 K)
July 14, 2022 Ethics - NRP Workgroup (PDF - 147 K)
June 16, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 265 K)
June 15, 2022 Ethics - Multiple Listing Subcommittee (PDF - 232 K)
May 26, 2022 Ethics - Transparency in Program Selection Workgroup (PDF - 169 K)
May 19, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 196 K)
May 11, 2022 Ethics - Multiple Listing Subcommittee (PDF - 235 K)
April 29, 2022 Ethics - Transparency in Program Selection Workgroup (PDF - 116 K)
April 21, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 189 K)
April 13, 2022 Ethics - Multiple Listing Subcommittee (PDF - 112 K)
April 1, 2022 Ethics - Transparency in Program Selection Workgroup (PDF - 115 K)
March 17, 2022 Ethics (PDF - 277 K)
February 17, 2022 Ethics (PDF -270 K)
January 27, 2022 Ethics - Transparency in Program Selection Workgroup (PDF - 113 K)

Reports to the Board of Directors

June 2019: Ethical Implications of Multi-Organ Transplants (PDF - 1 M)
December 2016: Guidance on Imminent Death Donation (PDF - 136 K)
December 2016: Guidance on Split Versus Whole Liver Transplantation (PDF - 490 K)

Looking for something else? Contact us at unoscommunications@unos.org or (804) 782-4800. We maintain an archive of historical OPTN documents.