ABSTRACT
Selection refers to the process whereby patients in need of an organ are selected as recipients. Once on a waiting list, patients' selection will depend on the particular rules or procedures utilised in making selection or allocating organs. Three of the most common criteria used in selection of organ recipients are medical criteria: compatibility of blood types, degree of match of tissue types, which is to a greater or lesser extent inversely related to strong immunological response of the recipient and the degree of immunological hyper-sensitivity. Even if the Swedish Transplants Act regulates organ donation and the hospital regulations are of national character, there are no explicit general rules regulating the allocation of organs. Blood type compatibility is an absolute requirement, and is rigorously applied in all allocation systems. Some of the selection criteria are strictly medical; others, possibly related to medical criteria, are of a much more obvious social and psychological character.
