Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Government oversight already helping Americans die


"There is no doubt that organs that can help somebody and have a survival benefit are being discarded every day." DR. DORRY SEGEV, a transplant surgeon at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
~ ~ ~ 
 In Discarding of Kidneys, 
System Reveals Its Flaws
ST. PAUL — Last year, 4,720 people died while waiting for kidney transplants in the United States. And yet, as in each of the last five years, more than 2,600 kidneys were recovered from deceased donors and then discarded without being transplanted, government data show. 
Those organs typically wound up in a research laboratory or medical waste incinerator. In many instances, organs that seemed promising for transplant based on the age and health of the donor were discovered to have problems that made them not viable. 
The current process is made inefficient, they say, by an outdated computer matching program, stifling government oversight, the overreliance by doctors on inconclusive tests and even federal laws against age discrimination. The result is a system of medical rationing that arguably gives all candidates a fair shot at a transplant but that may not save as many lives as it could.    New York Times

6 comments:

Rex Kramer said...

I'm all for small government, but I don't want some third world hack harvesting my goods without every government agency possible breathing down his neck to make sure everything is on the up and up.

Jeffrey said...

Gotcha Rex! I'm all for a healthy diet, but I want my hamburgers medium well.

Rex Kramer said...



Speaking of....

Jeffrey said...

Didn't quite follow that, Rex. Care to expound?

Denney Crane said...

If I might interject. If I was hours away from death due to the lack of a donor kidney, I wouldn't care how many hacks were involved in obtaining me a kidney. Some hope is better than none...

Until we are in that very position, life or death, our opinions are subject to change. If you don't believe me, think about if the person in need was your son, daughter or grandchild...

People go to foreign countries every day to receive organ transplants because they would probably die in the U.S. waiting on the organ.

∞ ≠ ø said...

Indeed... some even go to England.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aclS1pGHp8o