Study Caasesytz

Larry is a 40 year old advertising executive who has used alcohol heavily
for 20 years. He has recently had several hospitalisations for
complications of cirrhosis, believed to be due to alcoholism. He now
has ascites, esophageal varices, and is recovering from hepatic
encephalopathy.
Following his most recent hospitalisation he resolved to quit drinking and
has not drunk alcohol for two months since discharge. He has been
followed by an outpatient alcohol rehabilitation program and is said to
be doing well. This contrasts with frequent recidivism prior to to his
serious illnesses, when, he says: I never took it as seriously as I do
now. Larry began regular use of alcohol in his teens. In recent years,
he has drunk at least 500 ml of vodka every day and began to have
frequent absences from work, until his illness forced him to leave his
job.
Larrys brother is a physician with many connections in the medical
community. He feels that Larry would be a good candidate for liver

And has spoken to some colleagues, who have put him in touch with a
local transplant centre. Except for alcohol related illness, Larry has
never been hospitalised. He has hypertension but was previously
noncompliant with his medication regimen.
Issues to consider:
(a)
(b)
(c)

Please describe the ethical issues raised by this case and explain
why they are ethical and not of other nature (e.g. technical)
Should Larry be accepted for liver transplant? Build your argument
based on the ethical issues identified earlier.
When you build your argument please consider allocation of scarce
resources in the context of organ donation.