Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2021
The recent Report of the Massachusetts Task Force on Organ Transplantation represents a watershed in public policy formulation in the health care field. The Report reflects the views of a diverse group drawn from fields which include public health, religion, surgery, law, private industry and consumer affairs. As such, it is, happily, unlike nearly every other advisory study of health care technology that has been commissioned by federal or state bodies during the past twenty-five years.
All too often, assessments of medical technology commissioned by government or publicly funded scientific agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Technology Assessment, or the Public Health Service, have been confined to the views of “experts” in the area of technology being assessed.