NBC news confirms judge orders 10 yr old girl added to adult lung xplant list.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/05/18779741-judge-orders-girl-added-to-adult-lung-transplant-list?lite

By JoNel Aleccia, Senior Writer, NBC News
A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary to suspend existing organ allocation rules to give a 10-year-old Pennsylvania girl a better chance at a life-saving lung transplant.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Baylson told Kathleen Sebelius to direct the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, or OPTN, to make an exception to the so-called "Under-12" rule as it applies to Sarah Murnaghan, who has end-stage cystic fibrosis, for at least 10 days, until a hearing on June 14. That move means that the girl can be considered more quickly for organs as an adult, instead of being limited to the pediatric transplant list.

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"For us, this means that for the next 10 days, Sarah's placement in the queue for adult lungs will be based on the severity of her illness, and she will not be penalized for her age," parents Janet and Francis Murnaghan said in a statement. "We are experiencing many emotions: relief, happiness, gratitude, and, for the first time in months: hope."
Their elation was echoed by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who advocated on behalf of the family.
"Finally, we have some positive news for Sarah and her family," Toomey said in a statement. "I applaud today's ruling and am grateful to Judge Baylson for quickly issuing his decision on such an important matter."

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But the ruling immediately raises concerns about fairness -- and the risk of more lawsuits, said Art Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center. While it's admirable that Baylson chose to try to help Sarah and others, the decision threatens the integrity of the nation's existing organ allocation process, he said.
"It is not clear why everyone now waiting at the bottom of any transplant list would not seek relief in federal court," Caplan said. "Unless the judge has reason to think the lung distribution rules are simply a product of age discrimination and nothing more -- which seems highly unlikely -- then this becomes a troubling instance of non-doctors deciding who is the best candidate to receive a lung or other scarce medical resource."
OPTN officials were working to schedule an emergency meeting to consider the issues, a spokesman said.

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