Exploring Bioethics - NIH Office of Science Education - National ...

6. If it does not naturally arise, ask students to consider whether theorgan should go to the sickest person. Then, ask students which ofthe four patients is the sickest. Students will soon realize that they needadditional information to answer these questions.7. Hand out a copy of Master 3.8 to each student, and ask them toread it over. This master has the additional information abouteach patient that they will need to determine who is likely to livethe longest, who is the sickest, and so on.The next steps should help students become more familiar with theconnection among the criteria, the facts relevant to the criteria, and thecase studies.8. Tell students that it’s time for them to connect the criteria, therelevant facts, and the case studies. Announce that you will selecta criterion from the chart and that students must figure out whowould get the organ if that criterion were prioritized (that is,deemed the most important one).9. State that the class will now prioritize the criterion “whoever issickest.” On the board or chart paper, write the following: Who gets theliver if we prioritize the criterion “whoever is sickest”?10. Ask students to rank the four patients according to who is sickestand to state the facts they used to determine this. Place the rankingon the left-hand side of a chart (under “Who is sickest?”) and therelevant facts on the right-hand side of the chart. Your chart shouldlook similar to the following. If it does not, remind students that“sickest” means who will die first in the absence of a transplant.Who is sickest? Relevant Facts(#1 is sickest)1. Luke He may die within the next two weeks.2. Emily She may die within the next three months.3. Anita She may die within the next nine months.4. Mario He may die within one year.11. Ask students, “Given this ranking, who gets the liver if weprioritize the criterion ‘whoever is sickest’?”12. Tell students that they will now prioritize the criterion “whoeverwill likely live the longest after transplant” and state the factsthey used to determine this.13. On the chart paper or board, create a two-column table and placethe ranking on the left (under “Who will likely live the longestpost-transplant?”) and the relevant facts on the right.3-18Exploring Bioethics