Question

You are a very skilled doctor with five dying patients, each of whom needs a different organ in order to live. Unfortunately, there are no organs available to perform any of the transplants. It just so happens that you have a sixth dying patient, suffering from a fatal illness, who will die sooner than the other five if not treated. If this sixth patient dies, you will be able to use his organs to save the five other patients. However, you have a medicine you can give to this sixth patient that will cure his illness and he won’t die. Would you:

a: Wait for the patient to die and then harvest his organs or
b: Save the patient even though the other patients won’t get organs.

Answer 1

Either this is 6 lives vs 1 life
Or there is an invisible option 3.

Answer 2

Whoa whoa whoa. First off. There are five vital organs in the body. The five dying patients can trade. Save the other guy. Everyone wins.

Answer 3

5 lives**

Answer 4

Plot twist, the sixth person is your best friend who saved your life on more than one occasion and was very close to inventing the next great human advancement technology.

Answer 5

The liver is easy, because you only have to take a piece of it, and it will regrow to it's full size.

Answer 6

Save the friend, have him save the other patients.
Or, alternatively, tell the friend, he'll probably understand the greater good, cut him up, save the other 5, boom. You're almost a hero. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Answer 7

Actually, let's say the sixth person was working on this technology: https://www.forbes.com/sites/robinseatonjefferson/2018/11/28/scientists-first-to-engineer-tissue-from-patients-own-cells-to-regenerate-diseased-injured-organs/#7e28c8bf1099

Answer 8

I knew it. Okay, then like @JustSaiyan said, saving my friend and working with him/her means providing a potential cure for the other five patients.

Answer 9

^

Answer 10

Except the technology is not even yet ready for human trials. The approval process is years away.

Answer 11

The five patients will die way before then

Answer 12

Save the friend, he seems smart enough to transplant your organs instead.

Answer 13

You still end up saving all 6 of them.

Answer 14

Yeah, similar to the time frame for cloning, I presume
Was just going to ask how long do the pateints have before their time is up, in.which case, I would've said:
B.) Save the patient even though the other patients won’t get organs [immediately]

Answer 15

Because that one patient can still save millions in time.

Answer 16

Anyway, these are just some thought provoking scenarios. Just to see how other people would respond if they were in some extraordinary situations.

Answer 17

Even more thought provoking situtations to come in the future. Stay tuned.

Answer 18

lol trolley problem

Answer 19

I'd quit my job:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-N_RZJUAQY4

Answer 20

Quit your job knowing that you could have saved lives? I can see the headlines now: "Doctor quits job; his six patients all died". How do you live with yourself knowing you could have saved lives?.

Answer 21

Did you watch the youtube video?

Answer 22

@photonics could remove his moral compass ahead of time lol

Answer 23

I saw the youtube video. I don't know where you find stuff like this. The two year old is not comparable to a doctor and the six toy people are not comparable to real people who find themselves in these kinds of situations in real life. The difference is the two year old knows those toys are not real people.

Answer 24

The video was linked in the context of someone writing about how autonomous vehicles will force the trolley problem and that engineers will have to solve it (another topic for another day). I personally thought it was really funny that the toddler dodged the question

Answer 25

Well, he IS a TWO year old. I don't think he cared about the problem. He just wanted to play with his toys.

Answer 26

The kind needing a liver transplant would be fine. Anyone can give half their liver to someone and have both parties regen their livers to full size in an astonishingly short period of time.

Answer 27

guy* not kind

Answer 28

Wait @photonics are you saying that you're the toddler?

Answer 29

I'm saying the toddler inspired me

Answer 30

To do WHAT exactly?

Answer 31

Legal manslaughter, right?

Answer 32

I'd say sacrificing myself would be the best option otherwise I'd feel guilty in both situations

Answer 33

Actually, what I'm thinking is that Trump would respond to this scenario in a similar manner as you. Maybe even post the exact same vid and then say it "inspired" him somehow. Just like you did.

Answer 34

@photonics

Answer 35

lmao, he'd probs use to it justify his actions against immigrants

Answer 36

I think what I'd actually do in this situation is ask the one person what his thoughts are and follow what he says... so its his problem and not mine

Answer 37

He's probably smart enough to know a way to save everybody.

Answer 38

Good one

Answer 39

Way better than quitting

Answer 40

basically I can pass guilt on to him if he chooses to save himself

Answer 41

Take his organs after he dies. Its a legal trade. ._. I mean if what if he wanted to die anyway? We don't know what his been through. Such thing about Assisted suicide, so if he has a mental illness and we have the cure, we can just let him die FIRST (not being harsh) later after you harvest his organs you an copy the medicine with 3D printing right?... or he could just see how long he has until the guy dies and use that time to print the medicine, find a way to save the other 4-5 guys, and boom boom boom his famous, rich, and a hero.

Answer 42

I think that it should be A let the patient die and harvest his organs. I believe that is the answer because why let 5 people die instead of one. Besides if that one person died you would be like a hero to more people and maybe even get to be on the news but, if you save the one person no news no hero just saving one person and letting the others die

Answer 43

and if we do b we can just 3d print the others organs too cx hospitals keep stashes of organs that have been 3d printed

Answer 44

WhaleIcouldjustdonatemyorgansandeveryonelives

Answer 45

......shes got a point ._.