Posted on 06/13/2013 5:23:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The campaign to move a dying 10-year-old onto the waiting list for adult lungs has succeeded: Wednesday afternoon Sarah Murnaghan underwent transplant surgery in Philadelphia and she has a good chance at a longer life.
What may never be known is who may have suffered in her stead. When one person moves up an organ transplant waiting list, another person may move down
If all goes well, the young cystic fibrosis patient will get a fresh start on childhood, able to spend time with friends, play sports and do other normal kid things, Samuel Goldfarb, her doctor at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said during a court hearing last week.
But as everyone hopes for the best for Sarah and her family, the match comes after a media campaign, a lawsuit and a federal court order, not to mention pressure from lawmakers on HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to personally intervene on behalf of a single child. It has experts from the transplant community worried about a precedent with the potential to open up the system to tampering from the outside. And that could begin chipping away at the careful framework set up to fairly distribute donated organs, the most precious — and scarce — resources in the health care system.
“If the distribution of organs becomes subject to the success of individual publicity campaigns, with organs going to those who hire the best PR firms and lawyers, who on the waiting list would remain confident that their priority would be decided on the merits?” Daniel Wikler, a medical ethics expert at Harvard, said in an email.
“And who would agree to donate organs to a system supposedly based on rational, humane, and fair selection criteria but that would actually be determined by the assets of the highest bidder?”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
What’s the medical (not political) reason for age discrimination when having a transplant? There may be more to the story. Will the adult lung (age of that person) work? Too large to fit properly? Was that a consideration?
When you turn 16 and get your first driver’s license, the form asks you if you want to be an organ donor. Hell, no! I don’t trust doctors, they can be just as greedy and unscrupulous as the rest of us. What if you get in a car accident and you’re unconscious, but not badly hurt? And what if there’s some old rich guy in that hospital who is waiting for a young, healthy heart, and is willing to pay the doctors fifty thousand dollars for it? And you happen to be the perfect doner. They’d give you a shot to “put you to sleep”, so they can harvest you. Happens all the time.
Because those doctors sign the death certificates, and you died of whatever they said you died of.
I tell all my friends and relatives to never EVER sign that donor card. No, no, a thousand times no!
We’ll become angry seeing abuses; family members being mistreated while the government will not listen. It’s horrible and it’s coming if someone in Congress doesn’t stop it. Just recall the Terri Schiavo case, how the government and libs defended the right of the government to stop her medical care ( to murder her ) and this was justified by them. Well known liberal attorneys were in favor of the government's case to end her medical care. This is them. Liberals, who support death culture, like abortion. And have the right they seem to think to say who is a productive human and who is not. That is not America. That is not humanity. Liberals are not authentic because they say they are against the death penalty.
The little girl was the one who was bumped she waited longer than anyone else and was passede up for 18 months because of her age...
who would you like to receive a lung transplant from you ???
some guy who had smoked all his life or an illegal alien
or a child like this girl ???
yes illegal aliens get transplants
From what I can determine there is a medical reason/risk that adult lungs are not suitable for children. Regardless of statistics, the physician should determine risk and make the call.
If the age to receive an adult lung is 12, and the child is 11 1/2, even 10, this is a medical decision best left to doctors - not bureaucrats.
There are too many variables for arbitrary age limits.
somebody more worthy was bumped.
Mickey Mantle would be pleased
No worries, you were fine. I was asking because I really have no idea if a lung transplant extends this young girl's life beyond the normal life expectancy for those with CF, or if the transplant "cures" her from CF.
Either way, nothing but best wishes for her and her family.....
Well she certainly didn't steal anything. She cut in line so-to-speak. However she probably should have been in that line all along and they simply righted a wrong by allowing her to jump in where she probably would have been all along.
I think these matters should consider a lot of factors. I assume they did that and she is a good candidate to get the lung and they righted a wrong. However if they just did this out of public pressure then that is wrong. Let's hope this doesn't become a popularity context to get organs.
Did the Dr’s change the rule?
Because it sure seems to have been changed based on popular opinion.
If in fact the Dr’s think it was the best decision I say go for it.
If it was politically driven or driven by popular opinion I say beware of making decisions that way.
It would not be politically driven if our politicians would keep their filthy hands off of our medical care.
It was politics that disallowed doctors to make the right decision in This Case.
Somebody more worthy?
So was that, pray tell.
Right. Sebelius is out with her long knives. We will see more articles like this to save that old bag’s face.
From what I read, there was a separate waiting list for children under 12. Problem is there are few under 12 donors. The family just wanted to merge lists. That offended the bureaucracy which will defend to the death (yours) their right to be wrong.
“Is it the best use of the adult lung?”
The Messiah couldn’t handle the heat and said make it go away; that’s the long story made short.
“They’ll just arrest and kill your donor tomorrow.”
The donor is already in prison or is involved in a Falun Gong session as we type.
nothing like the left at Politico making noises because O care will fail precisely because of cases like this.....The docs in this case wanted to use adult lungs and thought it was appropriate....that should have been the end of the story
I know nothing about lung transplants, but it seems to me that the two conditions that I am aware of where folks need a new lung are cystic fibrous and lung cancer.
One is a condition that effects children through no fault of their own and the other at least from what they say, attacks adults who have abused their lungs through smoking.
Now, I used to be a smoker, and if it came down to me getting a lung or some kid getting it, I think I would want it to go to the kid...
“Everything I’ve read indicates quite the opposite for child recipients of adult lungs.”
Did you read this or did you hear it on the radio the other day?
This asks the wrong question. The real question is, why on earth should the girl have been left off the eligible list if her doctors agreed that she had a good to excellent chance of successfully using a pair of adult lungs?
The rules about who gets transplants should be *guidelines,* not hard and fast rules that don’t take individual circumstances into account.
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