Private transplants to be banned

[Heidi]

Source: BBC

Page last updated at 00:29 GMT, Friday, 31 July 2009 01:29 UK

The government says it will ban all private transplants of organs from dead donors in the UK.

The move comes after media reports of overseas patients paying to receive organs donated by British people.

An independent report said the public needed to be confident that scarce donor organs were allocated fairly within the NHS.

Transplant surgeons said the ban would reassure the public that organs will go to those in greatest need.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8176277.stm

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. It's an interesting comment on the US healthcare debate

that in the UK, there's a feeling that the only way to make sure allocation of a scarce resource (organs) is fair is by keeping any sort of profit out of it altogether, and that they think that could make people more willing to donate.

[Vidar]

3. Good observation

[dipsydoodle]

6. Oh bum

I was hoping to get a B-3 Hammond.

[B3Nut]

12. Hey, that's my joke! ;-)

:spray: :toast: :hippie:

Hehehehehe!

[Enthusiast]

2. Those that would argue

that organs from the living should be harvested to be used in wealthy patients are little better than the Nazis.

[vadawg]

15. alternatively, shouldnt i if i want be able to allow my wife to sell my organs if i want

after all they are my organs and if i want my family to benefit from selling them to some rich people why shouldnt they..

[thunder rising]

4. You can bet that a bill like this wouldn't make it through Baucus' committee either

[AngryAmish]

5. Madness

Now more people will die or continue to suffer without organs. Fantastic.

[eilen]

7. I think the methodology is that people go on a list

according to their priority/severity of illness and need. When an organ is available it goes to the the most closely matched at the top of the list. Selling organs is illegal in the US. Organs should be allocated by need, not wallet.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. No; it's likely that more people will donate under the new system

There is a shortage of organs. It is thought that some people do not donate their organs after death because that have heard that the organs can sometimes be used in private transplant operations. People like and admire the NHS, and think that if they donate their organs and the NHS does the operations, they can be sure the organs will go to the patients with the greatest need. They don't like the idea of some doctor who gets a fee per operation making the decision of who get the organ.

Now it's possible that the private doctors still do make a purely medical decision. But people can't be sure. The NHS can make use of all the organs that are available, so this will treat either just as many people as before, or it will treat more, if the donations increase.

[JeanGrey]

19. It is bullshit. They DON'T allocate fairly. I'm living proof.

I waited four YEARS at a transplant center getting nothing but the run around and getting sicker and sicker and being told my meld score was 18 out of 40. I went to the Mayo clinic and was IMMEDIATELY hospitalized and put on the list, I was transplanted 12 days later. Mayo said I would have died if I had stayed where I was.

[NashVegas]

10. So What

No one ever had a right to an extended life via unnatural intervention, courtesy of someone else's misfortune.

[GeorgeGist]

13. duh???

[Vinca]

8. Hmmm . . . if I could sell a kidney, I might be able to afford healthcare.

:banghead:

[Turbineguy]

11. Poor repubs have been

selling their brains.

[jmowreader]

14. This means you'll not hear the dreaded knock on the door...

"Yes?"

'Hello. Uhh...can we have your liver?'

"My what?"

'Your liver. It's a large...ehh, glandular organ in your abdomen. You know, it's...uh, it's reddish brown. It's sort of...'

"Yeah...yeah, I know what it is, but I'm using it."

'Come on, sir.'

"Hey! Hey! Stop!"

'What's this, then?'

"A liver donor's card."

'Need we say more?'

"Listen, I can't give it to you now. It says 'in the event of death.'"

'No one who has ever had their liver taken out by us has survived.'

[excess_3]

16. in the US, the ghouls of the 'donation committee'

trade organs like horses

it is all business.
sending the organs to their favorite doctor
and/or hospital. The estate of the donor does not
benefit from this trade.

any worth you slice it,
the only issue is money.

[customerserviceguy]

17. I'm wondering if this may have an impact on directed donations between family members

Let's say that my child needs a kidney. Of course, I'll donate one. But can somebody come in and say, "Here's another person who is compatible as a donee, who is closer to death than your child, the kidney must go to him," ?

Also, there is the practice of donating blood from close relatives who you trust to have not engaged in risky behavior, would this law affect that?

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. "organs from dead donors", so the rules wouldn't have any impact on those situations

and I wouldn't think people's likelihood of donating in the situations you give would be affected either.

[conspirator]

20. More money for the organ trafficking mafia nt