Ethical dilemmas: transplantation in prisoners and the mentally disabled.

The particular case of organ transplantation in prisoners and the mentally disabled gives rise to discussions within the context of several aspects of bioethics. After medical and legal aspects are considered, the most important problem relates to the allocation of scarce resources to subsets of patients that are viewed differently from other citizens. The legal and basic rights of these individuals are discussed, as is the validity of social worth as a criterion of access to this treatment care modality. The respective roles of the physician and of society are considered to be distinct from each other.