Doctors Should Pick Recipients

Hats off to Scott Harris for a well-informed article about Dr. Ronald Busuttil, a man to be praised and admired for his work in a medical field dear to my heart--and liver (“God’s Right Hand,” July 11). As a grateful recipient of a donor liver at UCLA Medical Center last April, I’m feeling good and have a new lease on life. (I also have a soul mate, an infant, with whom I share my donor liver. While Dr. Busuttil operated on the baby, Dr. Mark Ghobrial “installed” my liver.)

The economics of organ supply and demand are cruel, giving life to some and denying it to others. Government intervention, as mentioned in the article, can result in doctors, the best decision-makers, having one hand tied behind their backs. Until the supply of donated organs increases substantially, doctors, not government, should decide what’s best in such matters.

Michael H. Manning

Valley Glen