Patients above the age of 70 face unjustified discrimination in heart transplants

Publication date: Available online 23 August 2017 Source:European Geriatric Medicine Author(s): D. Macku, I. Novotna The general approach to allocating transplants is an indicator of the maturity of national health systems. There are some issues that have been raised regarding the cut-off age for transplantation. Some transplant programs may not accept patients older than 80years; the others have no age limit. The age cut-off for heart transplantation is the age of 70. Patients over 70years may be put on the waiting list and transplanted but under specific conditions. We are discussing an interesting issue in transplant medicine, in which the age of the patient is considered to be a limiting factor that decides whether he or she can get a quality organ or not.
Source: European Geriatric Medicine - Category: Geriatrics Source Type: research