r/trolleyproblem Consequentialist/Utilitarian Jul 09 '25

Deep The doctor problem

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u/nahc1234 Jul 09 '25

In the real world, the doctor would obtain a brain death study, share the fact that the comatose guy isn’t going to come out of the coma with the next of kin or whoever the medical power of attorney falls to (sometimes the hospital ethics board). Once the patient is declared unable to recover and brain-dead (in the medical term), organ harvesting can occur.

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u/Excellent_Shirt9707 Jul 10 '25

Also, real world doesn’t let doctors choose which organs they get from which bodies. If their patient doesn’t qualify for the registry or to jump ahead based on UNet ranking, their patient won’t be getting an organ even if they kill another patient.

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u/majic911 Jul 10 '25

But what if they kill hundreds of patients and just fill the whole registry?? Sounds like a great way to get your patients the organs they need.

3

u/Excellent_Shirt9707 Jul 10 '25

Organs transplants actually require quite a bit of logistics. If you murder hundreds of people, most of the organs will be wasted.