A prisoner with chronic myeloid leukemia.

The health care received by prisoners in the area of tissue and organ transplantation is not well discussed or documented. We encountered a prisoner with newly diagnosed chronic myelogenous leukemia who was a candidate for allogeneic bone marrow transplantation and had two HLA-identical siblings who were willing to donate bone marrow. Based on humanitarian, constitutional, and ethical considerations, we suggest that the prisoner (patient) should receive the same health care as individuals who are not incarcerated and that the costs of care should play no greater role for prisoners than for other members of society.