“You Only Know What You Know”: Evaluating the Need for a Psychosocial Transplant Database

J Clin Ethics. 2025 Summer;36(2):196-200. doi: 10.1086/734769.

ABSTRACT

AbstractTransplant psychiatry is a rapidly growing field all across the nation. There are no clear biopsychosocial criteria for transplantation, but similarities among the different leading rating scales do exist. At least at this time, there is no unified electronic medical record (EMR) across all transplant centers, making it possible for information gained at one center to be lost when a patient is transferred or presented to a new center and does not disclose their prior evaluation history. A national database covering a patient’s personal history of prior biopsychosocial evaluations would be a helpful unifying tool, helping to ensure that appropriate knowledge is obtained from each candidate. There are some important factors that should be considered before a tool like this can be implemented. These include establishment of the database itself, the presentation of the data, and its impact on equity and justice. We do believe that a database, in the long run, may help bring about fairness in the organ allocation system.

PMID:40397984 | DOI:10.1086/734769