Chicago Tribune

VOICE OF THE PEOPLE
Increase donationsMary Simmerling, Associate, MacLean Center, for Clinical Medical Ethics and Section of TransplantationPublished July 16, 2007
The country continues to face a serious crisis in terms of the huge disparity between the number of organs available for transplant and the number of people needing them.There are 72,355 people listed as waiting for kidneys in the U.S.
E-mail this story
Printable format
Search archives
RSS
Last year 17,092 kidney transplants were performed in the U.S.This left more than 50,000 people waiting on the list. Of these, estimates are that 6,000 died while waiting.Although the waiting list continues to grow, the number of donations does not keep pace.It is expected that another 6,000 will die waiting this year.In his recent opinion piece, Timothy F. Murphy claims that people on this list who turn to the Internet to seek organs from living donors are unfairly using an "express lane" that disadvantages others who are waiting.But the numbers suggest a different picture.In four years, matchingdonors.com has facilitated a total of 46 kidney transplants -- about 11 transplants per year.The idea that 11 kidneys a year represent an express lane out of this system would seem inaccurate at best.It is hard to see how shortening the list without taking an organ from that pool disadvantages those still waiting; by getting off the list through a donation from a live donor, these 46 kidney recipients have in effect unburdened the list.It should be heartening to those of us in the midst of this crisis that more than 4,000 people have expressed a general desire to donate an organ to help those in need of a transplant.Still the reality is that 11 additional kidneys per year will do precious little to help the 72,355 people waiting on the list.It is time to explore other options for increasing organ donations in the U.S.
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune