People think the organ transplant system is there for us all. But as waiting lists grow, some patients realize they need to be active in finding their organs…from a live donor, from the internet, even from China. However, many worry about the ethical implications.
Correspondent Bob Jimenez reports.
Update November 21, 2006
Baby Brooke and her mother are doing very well. The mother’s liver has already grown back. Baby Brooke is still being monitored, but all the signs are good.
Information About Organ Donation
- Donate Life California, organ and tissue donor registry
- California Transplant Donor Network, Northern/Central California
- Golden State Donor Services, Sacramento/Northern California
- OneLegacy, Los Angeles/Southern California
- Lifesharing, San Diego and Imperial Counties
- Organ Transplant Service, UCSF Medical Center
- Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients
- United Network for Organ Sharing
- How the Transplant System Works, United Network for Organ Sharing
- How You Can Help: Promote Organ Donation, United Network for Organ Donation
September 30th, 2006 at 8:43 am
The present system for cadaver organ donation is unethical, corrupt, and unfair. Organs coming from deceased “donors” are donated to no one. They are sold. See the Denver Post expose`, 10/19/04. Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO) such as OneLegacy, Lifesharing, and Golden State Donor Services sell those organs. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) operates the OPO system. The UNOS - Organ Procurement Transplantation Network make more than $700 million annually selling “DONATED ORGANS”. UNOS/OPTN is a private government contractor with a national monopoly. This group has blocked every major effort to increase other legal alternative forms of organ donation. They run a sham non-profit which makes hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
In April, 2004 a new law was signed into effect by George W. Bush which mandated national distribution of available cadaver organs to the patients most in need across the US. UNOS/OPTN and transplant centers have ignored this hence the unfair organ distribution of organs in California. Organ transplant centers make huge amounts of money doing organ transplant surgery. The do not want that Golden Goose to slip away. Some centers will lie, cheat, and steal to maintain that cah flow. Just look at UC - Irvine and St. Vincent’s in L.A. for the most recent examples.
I am the first person to have received a kidney transplant from a living donor I met via the Internet. UNOS/OPTN attempted to stop my transplant because this unethical, immoral, and corrupt organization received no payment due to the fact my organ came from a living donor.
There are other ways to get a needed organ transplant legally here in the U.S. Go to www.matchingdonors.com or www.lifesharers.org.
February 11th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
That was a terrific story on Liver Transplants.
There was an important omission and that was the after-care of those with Liver Transplants. The cost of anti-rejection medication, which must be taken by the individuals entire life, costs approximately $35,000/year. Of course, if someone has insurance, they only need to pay a deductable for 4-5 medications. Who pays for the surgery and the medication for those who do not have Health Insurance? Universal Health Care may be able to address this and make transplants and the required mediccations available / appropriate for all those who need it.
March 10th, 2007 at 6:13 am
[…] The organ donation scheme, worthy as it is for recipients, is an often ruthless, cut throat, for-profit-business. Link is to a recent program on California Connected, carried on PBS here… […]