Bucklin is specially proud of his work on the Ethics Committee (and past work as a member of Board of Directors and as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors) of  the United Network for Organ Transfers (UNOS).

Bucklin receives certificate for work on Board of Directors
Bucklin (right side of photo) receiving certificate for Bucklin's work on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.

Ethics, law, and medicine are all involved in this corporation's setting and operating a system of national priorities, hospital and medical regulations and policies, which must balance a multitude of factors and the urgent competing interests of the average 85,000 persons awaiting life-saving organs every day (when only about 25,000 organs are available during a year).

UNOS, a non-profit organization, as a federal contractor, provides the personnel and operates  a separate corporation -  the national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN.  The OPTN  coordinates over 400 medical entities to provide the equitable allocation of organs for life-saving transplants throughout the United States.  The ethics issues involved in making this daily fast-moving equitable allocation are often difficult, sensitive, and newsworthy.

  • UNOS matches organ donors to recipients 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, using complicated proprietary software, computer databanks and an electronic and telephone communications center.  Each match must be done in hours, and must be done correctly and on time.  It is not just biological matching that must be done.  The matches must be done to maximize justice to the individuals on the waiting list, meeting federal regulations, and healthcare institutions varying needs and abilities for transplantation, while maximizing the potential for the donated organ, a complicated and life-sustaining task.

  • UNOS develops the national regulations and  policies that maximize the limited supply of organs and give all patients a fair chance at receiving the organ they need -- regardless of age, sex, race, lifestyle, financial or social status.

  • UNOS sets professional standards for ethical, efficient and quality patient care in transplant hospitals. 

  • Through the Organ Center, UNOS manages the national transplant waiting list.

  • UNOS maintains the database that contains all clinical transplant data. These data are used to improve the medicine and science of transplantation, develop organ allocation policy, aid scientific research and support transplant professionals in caring for patients.

  • UNOS monitors every organ match to ensure adherence to UNOS policies.

  • UNOS uses nationwide publicity campaigns to raise  public awareness about the importance of organ donation.

Back to Bucklin's short biography.