Organ transplantation in Singapore: history, problems, and policies.

The article explores the rules and criteria used for the allocation of donor organs in Singapore. Organs are extremely scarce, so hard decisions have to be made about who receives them. Based on an analysis of documents and interviews done with local program directors, both the admission to a waiting list for transplant and the final recipient selection are covered. The observed practices appear remarkably similar to those predominant in several Western countries until recently, when they had to be modified there following public criticism. It remains to be seen whether Singapore can sustain its much stricter standards in the future.

Rationing health care in the welfare state: three policies.

Three policies of health care rationing are discussed. The premise underlying their analysis is that all welfare systems must ration health care. This raises the question as to how the problem ought best to be resolved. But before thinking about normatively appealing answers it might be helpful to study how the problem is dealt with in the real world. For such a study brings to light several advantages and drawbacks of various rationing schemes which would be hard to consider in the abstract alone, but whose knowledge may be highly relevant for any designation of adequate solutions.