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
- Ethical Analysis of Normothermic Regional Perfusion
- 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 |
| Ms. Sheila Nichols Bullock | General Public Region 11 | 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 |
| Ms. Shannon M Dunne | Division of Transplantation, HHS | Ex Officio (non voting) | 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 | 6/30/2024 |
| Arjun U Naik | Division of Transplantation, HHS | Ex Officio (non voting) | 6/30/2025 |
| Lisa A Paolillo | New England Organ Bank | Region 1 Representative | 6/30/2026 |
| Lois Shepherd | University of Virginia Health Sciences Center | 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 | Emory University Hospital | 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 | 6/30/2027 |
| Joel Wu | General Public Region 7 | Region 7 Representative | 6/30/2027 |
- March 14, 2024 Ethics (PDF - 207 K)
- February 15, 2024 Ethics (PDF - 180 K)
- February 1, 2024 Ethics (PDF - 123 K)
- January 4, 2024 Ethics (PDF - 117 K)
- December 21, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 116 K)
- November 16, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 155 K)
- October 19, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 122 K)
- October 10, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 188 K)
- October 5, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 179 K)
- September 14, 2023 Ethics (PDF - 118 K)
- 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.