Posted on 09/23/2012 6:50:15 AM PDT by DallasBiff
"The new system would take 20 percent of the 'best' kidneys or kidneys that have the potential to last the longest, and give them to the 20 percent of patients that could last the longest," Cutler explained. "So, a simple example would be a young donor going into a young patient."
And the reverse would be true, too.
"Older kidneys would go to older patients," he said.
He said the current system of matching donors and recipients is based on how long someone has been waiting, how close the match is, and how likely it is another match could be found. But there are problems, he said.
"Maybe you have a great match, but it's a 72-year-old donor," he said. "Do you want to give that kidney to a 10-year-old child?"
Greenville teacher Yvonne Pannell, 54, is now on the transplant list for a second time. Her brother donated a kidney to her in 1998, but that gift is now beginning to fail.
"We've done everything we can at this point," she said, shrugging. "I've had a good life, made my mark on society. I don't have any regrets."
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
How about giving preference to people who have been on the donor lists for a long time? I’ve been on the organ donor list for over 30 years. Shouldn’t that give me a preference should I need one?
Don’t forget “We’ve got to pass the law before we find out what’s in it”.
Assuming, of course, that research can continue under Obamacare.
/johnny
How can you be on an organ donor list for 30 years? I’m on the kidney donor list now. Organs from older donors are already not given to young patients and if there is an exact match (1 in a million chance) for me anywhere in the country, I will get that kidney regardless of who is ahead of me on the list. So, this article is a little confusing to me.
"Death panels" will very probably come into existence if OsamaObamaCare ever comes into force but *this* difficult dilemma existed long before Osama Obama snorted his first line of cocaine.
What is the shelf life of a transplanted kidney?
Obamacare: Srewed without a kiss.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3CWLCoQu7c
Yes, this has been a debate for quite some time but under Obamacare I fear it will get even worse (gas on fire).
I believe in India and the US they’ll soon be testing (2017) self-contained (coffee cup sized), implantable artificial kidneys made from a patient’s stem cells. The item has no moving parts, filters blood, regulates water levels, helps regulate BP, creates Vitamin D and has an endurance expectancy of decades.
No batteries are needed as the patient’s BP powers the system.
WOW!!!! Science-fiction becomes science-fact!!! Dr. McCoy, your patient awaits.
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/artificial-kidney-put-on-research-fast-track/25851
I wonder under Obamacare they are going to determine who can and can’t have kids??
Your body tries to “destroy” the kidney in the first year after the transplant. A lot of variables come into play but the closest match, such as a living relative donor, has the best chance of your body accepting the transplant. The averages are about 9 to 12 years depending on the match. I can’t find the literature I have on it right now so I am going strictly from memory but I think those are pretty close estimates. I recently talked to a man at the renal transplant center in my hospital who received a kidney from the cadaver list that has lasted 15 years.
How about a market in organs? Often families are left destitute when the body of the head of household is actually very valuable. It sounds morbid, but everyone benefits and profits from the organ trade except the donor or their family.
It’s stupid that we let non-profits run our blood banks, too. They’re chronically short. A pint of blood runs from $130-350+ depending on region and supplies, yet the FDA prohibits payments for blood. Why? They hate free markets and don’t trust people.
How did computer modeling work out on the climate change issue? GIGO.
Sorry to hear that. I guess kidney transplants are much different. If successful, life should be almost normal except for monthly doctor visits, specimen samples and the anti-rejection drugs. However, that is already the norm for anyone with kidney failure.
Apples and oranges. It makes perfect sense to use computer modeling to match donors and organ recipients. I can write a program to do it. It’s NOT that difficult. If someone has an agenda to manipulate data, they will do it regardless of how the data is stored or gathered.
bureaucrats making health care decisions, who’d have thunk it?
And if you die waiting for a kidney that’s in your age group, even though there’s another one in a different age group, too effing bad.
This is sick crap.
My sister is on the transplant waiting list
Soon enough your political affiliation will be a factor in whether you receive a transplant.
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