I had a 17 yo nephew die waiting for a heart transplant, in 2000. If his father had been unable to put up 100K in escrow, he wouldn't even have made the list. Trouble was, no hearts. He was an athlete, a straight A student, and he got the wrong kind of flu, the kind that destroys the heart. One of the 30K plus who die from influenza every year.
Lots of people posting here who don't know much about the system OR medicine.
That’s a sad story, but not germaine so far as I can tell. The problem there wasn’t a cold-hearted populace who would let people die, it was a scarcity of a resouce (hearts).
It’s that scarcity that supports the more “capitalist” approach of requiring money to get on the list (my health insurance would pay for that transplant).
If there were enough hearts for everybody who needed one, there’s no way they’d let the kid die and a heart go to wast just because the father didn’t have $100,000 to put up.