MARCH was National Kidney Month. I did my part: I got a new one. My good fortune, alas, does not befall nearly enough people, and the federal government deserves much of the blame.
Posted on 05/17/2006 5:27:34 PM PDT by Born Conservative
Today 70,000 Americans are waiting for kidneys, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which maintains the national waiting list. Last year, roughly 16,000 people received one (about 40 percent are from living donors, the others from cadavers). More are waiting for livers, hearts and lungs, which mostly come from deceased donors, bringing the total to about 92,000. In big cities, where the ratio of acceptable organs to needy patients is worst, the wait is five to eight years and is expected to double by 2010. Someone on the organ list dies every 90 minutes. Tick. Tick. Tick.
Until my donor came forward, I was desperate. I had been on the list only for a year and was about to start dialysis. I had joined a Web site, MatchingDonors.com, and found a man willing to give me one of his kidneys, but he fell through. I wished for a Sears organ catalog so I could find a well-matched kidney and send in my check. I wondered about going overseas to become a "transplant tourist," but getting a black market organ seemed too risky.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Aren't we all on that list?
I think they forgot "and highly unethical" in that sentence. The point of origin for most of these black market organs is no big secret.
"More are waiting for livers, hearts and lungs, which mostly come from deceased donors"
Really??
Really. Not all organ donors are deceased.
Live donors can donate a kidney or portion of the liver.
Living right behind me is one of the kindest, most loving man I have ever known. Six years ago, he had a heart transplant from a 22 year old accident victim. I shudder to think what would have happened to this wonderful husband, father, grandfather and neighbor had that young man not signed the donor card.
"Paradoxically, our nation's organ policy is governed by a tenet that closes off a large supply of potential organs — the notion that organs from any donor, deceased or living, must be given freely."
She seems to confound freely with free or she intends to "borrow" organs.
Anyone as hostile to the system that worked for her must have some long-dulled axe to grind.
I'm guessing most hearts and lungs come from deceased donors, no?
I understand that, and "portion" was not specified in re the liver. As written, that sentence is deserving of derision, althought this is a serious subject that needs discussion.
Someday they may find a cure for what killed you, but what if you froze to death?
Cryo-chamber
I gave my heart to an Italian girl in 1964.
There is no right to spare parts whatever the source; the longer the average person lives the less useful his remaining organs will be and so we will always need the reckless and the unfortunate to supply the choice cuts.
The article states " "Paradoxically, our nation's organ policy is governed by a tenet that closes off a large supply of potential organs — the notion that organs from any donor, deceased or living, must be given freely."
Does she mean freely as in informed consent or freely as in one can not charge for their organs?
There are very strong ethical reasons why the buying and selling of organs is verboten. See the movie Coma for a very good overview of this issue.
A friend of mine just gave one of her kidneys away on May 15th....Monday....to her best friend.....things are going well, so far....they are both still in hospital.
a PS. I am an organ donor. When I got my DL renewed some years back I was asked if I wanted it noted on my DL. I said yes but I better not haved someone knocking at my door with a " Hi we're here to pick up your kidney"
Wow how did you survive, and how did you get a new one?
She should have said free, but people who say they feel badly ought to say they feel bad unless they are lacking in dexterity, so who knows what she meant?
If we'd stop giving kidneys to people who destroyed their own through self-stuffing-induced diabetes, there wouldn't be any shortage. I have a friend whose father's kidneys were destroyed by a genetic disorder which is controllable, but was discovered too late to save his own kidneys. He waited years for a transplant, while hordes of face-stuffers were getting theirs. We're never going to reclaim a culture of personal responsibility, if we keep bailing people out of the results of their irresponsibility, and sending them the message that they're just as deserving as responsible people.
New what, girl or heart?
I did survive -- in fact I met my wife five years later at a party at the Israeli Embassy in Rome.
I'd say that ALL hearts and lungs are from deceased donors.
all?
You can't live without your heart, and I doubt that they would allow someone to donate even part of a lung (I could be wrong on this one though).
This guy left his in San Francisco.
May I show you something from the Jarvik line? 
Would YOU donate your heart to someone and have a "Jarvik Line" replacement put in? If the "Jarvik Line" is a replacement for a heart, then the patient wouldn't need a transplant; they could just get one of these devices (which, btw, isn't something that you would use long-term to maintain someone for the rest of their life).
I've been called heartless many times, and I'm living quite well.
It is such a simple basic thing to give that which one no longer needs to those who cannot live without it. It amazes me that people still bury organs and hoard blood they can easily replace.
One reason for the shortage may be the reluctance of Blacks to be organ donors. This is especially troubling since Blacks are more likely to suffer from such ailments as high blood pressure, diabetes and other diseases that put the greatest strain on the kidneys and heart. This means they are more likely to need organ donation but less likely to find a suitable donor.
If memory serves right, and she is fickle. Donations of portions of a lung have been done. I am not sure how common it is or what the recovery rate is for the recepient.
bfl
I was joking. I guess that didn't come across.
Sally Satel was given her transplanted kidney by Virginia Postrel of Reason Magazine.
Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
I didn't know 30-40% of all Americans, according to polls, are organ donars. That is pretty dang high, it seems to me, considering each one of those persons voluntary acquiesced to do so.
'Assumed consent'. pah. lol, next thing you know they'll be using this to raise taxes...
What's so bad about dying? Where do people get off thinking that anyone else owes them a spare part when theirs stops working? I figure God is sovereign over life and death but when this life on earth ends, He offers a dandy retirement package. I'm rather looking forward to it.
"...the notion that organs from any donor, deceased or living, must be given freely."
As opposed to living organs that are not given voluntarily??
I think that most, if not all transplant recipients are extremely grateful to their donors, whether the donor is alive or dead.
What's so bad about dying?
So, if you were to develop appendicitis, are you going to stay home, and not seek treatment? Appendicitis is easily "cured" with surgery; if untreated, it oftentimes results in death. The "cure" for organ failure is transplantation. Depending on the organ that fails, death will occur without a transplant.
I would like to see people willingly donate their organs; I disagree strongly with "assumed consent".
As for the 30-40% being organ donors, that does seem high. However, it's possible; not everyone that agrees to donate their organs after death can do so. Depending on what causes their death, they may be ineligible to do so. For example, if someone has a heart attack, I believe they are disqualified from donating. The reason is that they must keep the organs perfused with blood before taking them out to place in the recipient. If you are "brain dead", you still may have a heart rate to perfuse the body with blood. If your heart stops beating, the lack of blood flow to the various organs starts to damage them beyond usability.
I wish I could give, but I suspect my bout with the Big C some time ago shot that to hell...
"(which, btw, isn't something that you would use long-term to maintain someone for the rest of their life)."
Oh, but it is, when it fails, your life is over.
One could step in front of a speeding truck for the rest of his life, however brief.
This notion that one has a moral obligation or a duty to turn over to the state unused or still serviceable, transplantable organs is probably as close to a perfection of fealty to the larger good as could be imagined, never mind that it isn't clear if any true good is being served.
Go here to read an article on this:
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/326/7402/1285
Freely as in without coercion, co-option or outright theft.
An article discussing a free market solution in the New York Times?? I guess the blind squirrel does find an acorn occasionally.
In reality, while compensating donors (or their estates) may alleviate shortages in the short term, I don't think it is a necessary or optimal long-term solution. Twenty years from now, and possibly much sooner, we will be able to grow healthy replacement organs in a lab from the patient's own tissue and implant a genetically perfect copy with no risk of rejection. Once such organs are available, the need for and usefulness of organ donors will become nonexistent.
Thanks for the link.
Didn't you know? All us conservatives are heartless.
Bad analogy. I wouldn't be on a waiting list for somebody else's appendix. Same thing with a gall bladder. You take it out. No big deal.
It's an entirely different ethical situation to expect others to supply you with a new heart or liver.
I can't imagine any moral obligation to do so but at the same time I can't imagine any reason not to.
Ask a mother whose child has just been saved by a transplant if it is "clear if any true good is being served"
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