Promoting Organ Donations the Gift of Life
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Backing the Gift of Life
Backing the gift of life
ON this page today, we tell the story of how Clare Conroy was asked to make a decision that would break any parent's heart. Having been told that her eight-year-old son, Daniel, was dead, she was asked to donate his organs.
There are people today who owe their lives to the fact that Clare said "yes" and that knowledge helps her cope with the loss of her son.
For many, the question of organ donation is hard to face because it brings the thought of death into sharper focus. But, with a national shortage of donor organs, it is a question which has to be made easier to answer.
We, therefore, have no hesitation in supporting the proposal by the Government's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, for a fundamental change in the way organ donations are managed in this country.
We believe it is common sense that everyone in the country should be registered as organ donors unless they opt out.
Not only will it significantly increase the number of donated organs, but it will save bereaved families from having to face a traumatic decision while they are having to come to terms with their loss.
It simply cannot be right to bury or cremate healthy organs which could be used to help others to live.
While we appreciate that this is a highly sensitive recommendation, which requires a period of consultation, we believe it is a change that is long overdue
10:54am Wednesday 18th July 2007
ON this page today, we tell the story of how Clare Conroy was asked to make a decision that would break any parent's heart. Having been told that her eight-year-old son, Daniel, was dead, she was asked to donate his organs.
There are people today who owe their lives to the fact that Clare said "yes" and that knowledge helps her cope with the loss of her son.
For many, the question of organ donation is hard to face because it brings the thought of death into sharper focus. But, with a national shortage of donor organs, it is a question which has to be made easier to answer.
We, therefore, have no hesitation in supporting the proposal by the Government's Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, for a fundamental change in the way organ donations are managed in this country.
We believe it is common sense that everyone in the country should be registered as organ donors unless they opt out.
Not only will it significantly increase the number of donated organs, but it will save bereaved families from having to face a traumatic decision while they are having to come to terms with their loss.
It simply cannot be right to bury or cremate healthy organs which could be used to help others to live.
While we appreciate that this is a highly sensitive recommendation, which requires a period of consultation, we believe it is a change that is long overdue
10:54am Wednesday 18th July 2007
Wait is on for life-saving organs
Wait is on for live-saving organs
Donations are up, but need outstrips supply; several efforts under way to try to ease shortage
Chris SwingleStaff writer
Post Comment
(July 19, 2007) — When Chris Goossen's kidneys stopped working at age 21, he began dialysis treatments, 12 hours a week. Within three years, he received a cadaver kidney transplant that freed him from dialysis, restored his energy and returned him to good health.
Eventually, however, his body rejected the new kidney. He went back on dialysis and the transplant waiting list. That was nearly five years ago.He's still waiting.
Three times a week, after his building maintenance job at Thomson West, he must be hooked up to a dialysis machine, four hours at a time, to survive.
Goossen, 37, of Rochester, is living the results of a worsening shortage of deceased-donor organs.Although more organs are being donated, the increasing need for transplants outstrips the supply.
More than 800 people are on waiting lists for organ transplants at Strong Memorial Hospital — the only area hospital that performs transplants. Nearly 100 patients have been waiting five years or more.
Some people run out of time. In 2006, 69 people died while on the transplant waiting list at Strong. Eight others were removed from the waiting list because they were too sick for a transplant.
"This is a health care crisis with a cure," says Rob Kochik, executive director of the Rochester-based Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network, which serves the 19-county region. "We know that transplants work."
The supply of organs locally doesn't meet the need here. In 2006, 43 deceased people donated organs and 286 donated eyes/tissue, with some overlap, in the region coordinated by the Finger Lakes network and the Rochester Eye and Human Parts Bank.
Strong Memorial Hospital performed 316 transplants in 2006 — a 36 percent jump from a record 232 in 2005 — including 33 from living donors.The demand for kidneys, in particular, has skyrocketed locally and nationwide. In the early 1990s, about 60 people were typically on the waiting list in Rochester for a kidney, and the average wait was 12 to 18 months. Now there are 280 people waiting for a kidney, and the average wait is four to five years, says Jan Miller, executive director of the National Kidney Foundation of Upstate New York.
Several efforts are trying to address the organ shortage.
LifeSharers is a controversial nonprofit national network of organ donors organized in 2002. It is based in Nashville. People who register with LifeSharers, which is free, promise to become organ donors upon their death; LifeSharers members are first in line. That approach would circumvent the existing national system of matching organs to recipients based on medical urgency of the patient, time on the waiting list and distance between donor and recipient. The founder of LifeSharers believes his effort would ultimately lead to more donors and more transplants for nonmembers as well.
New York state officials are studying a switch to a presumed consent system, which would assume people want to donate organs at death unless they specify otherwise. Some European countries use an opt-out system, but it doesn't exist in the United States. In March, a state Health Department committee assigned to study the question said it needed more time.
New York officials are changing the state Organ and Tissue Donor Registry from one of "intent" to donate into one of "consent" to donate. Signing your driver's license or joining the state registry online aren't enough to ensure you'll become an organ donor. Your next of kin would need to give consent.
New York is trying to raise more money for organ and tissue donation outreach and education. Driver's license applications have a new checkbox to add a $1 donation to the Life ... Pass it On Trust Fund. Pennsylvania generates about $800,000 per year this way and consistently has more deceased donors than New York despite a smaller population, the New York Alliance for Donation says.
Some states offer tax deductions for expenses such as travel, hotel bills and lost wages for live organ donors.Dr. Adel Bozorgzadeh, transplant services director at UR Medical Center, says greater public awareness of the need for organs would help. "This comes out of the goodness of the hearts of people," he said. "The donors are really the heroes."
Organ procurement officials encourage everyone to make their wishes known: Tell your family whether you want your organs donated so relatives won't be faced with guessing at a time when they're grieving.
Fewer than 5 percent of people will ever have the chance to donate organs at death, by dying on a ventilator. This can happen after a car accident, gunshot wound, cardiac arrest, asphyxiation, stroke or brain hemorrhage.
Many more people — about 29 percent of those who died in hospitals in the Rochester region in recent years — are eligible to donate tissues, such as eyes, skin, heart valves, bone, blood vessels and tendons.
Donated skin can save a burn victim's life. A donated bone segment can save someone from amputation. Allograft heart valve implants, unlike artificial valves, allow people to avoid life-long dependence on blood-thinning medication. Donated veins for bypass surgery preclude the need for a second surgical site for the patient.
Almost 200 cornea transplants each year in the Rochester region restore vision to blind or visually impaired people. Dorothy Turner of Henrietta was struggling to see before she had cornea transplants, first in 1983 and the second eye in 1990. The first transplant allowed her to keep working as a kindergarten teacher in the City School District. Now retired, she's still able to drive, to garden and to see her three grandchildren.
Steve and Ellen Karnisky of Greece know that at least 20 people benefited from the organs and tissue from their 15-year-old son, Rich, who died in a car accident in June 2000. "It's a way to have snatched good from evil," his father said.
One donor giving multiple organs and tissue can help more than 50 people.Organs and tissue not good for transplantation still can be donated for research.
Organs donated for transplant are distributed through the national United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) system. It looks for the best match based on criteria such as blood type and size of the organ. For certain organs, other factors — including medical urgency of the recipient and immune-system match — are vital.
LifeSharers believes that people who are willing to be organ donors themselves should get priority on waiting lists. Their members sign donor cards — from lifesharers.org, (888) 674-2688 — instructing their family and organ procurement officials to call LifeSharers for its members' names, to choose the one who's highest on the UNOS ranking for each organ. Federal and state laws allow donors, living or deceased, to direct donations to a particular person.
But Kochik, whose network coordinates all organ donations locally, says a list of people isn't the same as one name and that the LifeSharers approach couldn't be followed because it conflicts with the national system.
David Undis, executive director of LifeSharers, says if transplant coordinators refuse to look at his list, he could give them just one name, but it might not be the best match.
LifeSharers membership nearly doubled in the last year to 9,287. So far, none of its members have died in a way that their organs could be donated.Dr. David Kaufman, medical director of surgical intensive care at UR Medical Center and a medical ethicist, doesn't believe that neither LifeSharers nor financial incentives will improve the organ donation system. Financial incentives could make the reasons for donation murkier and, in the long run, lead to fewer donations, he says. LifeSharers would disrupt the national system to jump their members ahead in line.
During a recent dialysis session at New York Dialysis Services' Strong Health Dialysis center in Brighton, Goossen said that he signed up with LifeSharers in the hope that he'll get a kidney sooner. "I'd be willing to take any steps necessary to increase my chances of getting one," he said.
Some people get a kidney transplant from a live donor, typically a relative or friend. Goossen says he's not comfortable asking someone for such a sacrifice. If the organ didn't work initially, or didn't last, he'd feel terrible, he said.
Goossen has been called twice in the past year with news that a cadaver kidney was available. But, both times, final testing at the hospital canceled the transplant.
A second kidney transplant is a harder match, but the prior transplant doesn't change his place on the waiting list.So Goossen waits and hopes. "I get very impatient," he admitted. He's looked at a Web site offering kidney transplants for $70,000 in China — a country that has allowed use of organs (allegedly donated) from prisoners executed hours or days after arrest. He's also looked at a Web site offering to match live donors with recipients for an administrative fee.
Goossen wishes more people would donate organs after they die and doesn't understand why they don't. "They don't need them," he says.CSWINGLE@DemocratandChronicle.com
Donations are up, but need outstrips supply; several efforts under way to try to ease shortage
Chris SwingleStaff writer
Post Comment
(July 19, 2007) — When Chris Goossen's kidneys stopped working at age 21, he began dialysis treatments, 12 hours a week. Within three years, he received a cadaver kidney transplant that freed him from dialysis, restored his energy and returned him to good health.
Eventually, however, his body rejected the new kidney. He went back on dialysis and the transplant waiting list. That was nearly five years ago.He's still waiting.
Three times a week, after his building maintenance job at Thomson West, he must be hooked up to a dialysis machine, four hours at a time, to survive.
Goossen, 37, of Rochester, is living the results of a worsening shortage of deceased-donor organs.Although more organs are being donated, the increasing need for transplants outstrips the supply.
More than 800 people are on waiting lists for organ transplants at Strong Memorial Hospital — the only area hospital that performs transplants. Nearly 100 patients have been waiting five years or more.
Some people run out of time. In 2006, 69 people died while on the transplant waiting list at Strong. Eight others were removed from the waiting list because they were too sick for a transplant.
"This is a health care crisis with a cure," says Rob Kochik, executive director of the Rochester-based Finger Lakes Donor Recovery Network, which serves the 19-county region. "We know that transplants work."
The supply of organs locally doesn't meet the need here. In 2006, 43 deceased people donated organs and 286 donated eyes/tissue, with some overlap, in the region coordinated by the Finger Lakes network and the Rochester Eye and Human Parts Bank.
Strong Memorial Hospital performed 316 transplants in 2006 — a 36 percent jump from a record 232 in 2005 — including 33 from living donors.The demand for kidneys, in particular, has skyrocketed locally and nationwide. In the early 1990s, about 60 people were typically on the waiting list in Rochester for a kidney, and the average wait was 12 to 18 months. Now there are 280 people waiting for a kidney, and the average wait is four to five years, says Jan Miller, executive director of the National Kidney Foundation of Upstate New York.
Several efforts are trying to address the organ shortage.
LifeSharers is a controversial nonprofit national network of organ donors organized in 2002. It is based in Nashville. People who register with LifeSharers, which is free, promise to become organ donors upon their death; LifeSharers members are first in line. That approach would circumvent the existing national system of matching organs to recipients based on medical urgency of the patient, time on the waiting list and distance between donor and recipient. The founder of LifeSharers believes his effort would ultimately lead to more donors and more transplants for nonmembers as well.
New York state officials are studying a switch to a presumed consent system, which would assume people want to donate organs at death unless they specify otherwise. Some European countries use an opt-out system, but it doesn't exist in the United States. In March, a state Health Department committee assigned to study the question said it needed more time.
New York officials are changing the state Organ and Tissue Donor Registry from one of "intent" to donate into one of "consent" to donate. Signing your driver's license or joining the state registry online aren't enough to ensure you'll become an organ donor. Your next of kin would need to give consent.
New York is trying to raise more money for organ and tissue donation outreach and education. Driver's license applications have a new checkbox to add a $1 donation to the Life ... Pass it On Trust Fund. Pennsylvania generates about $800,000 per year this way and consistently has more deceased donors than New York despite a smaller population, the New York Alliance for Donation says.
Some states offer tax deductions for expenses such as travel, hotel bills and lost wages for live organ donors.Dr. Adel Bozorgzadeh, transplant services director at UR Medical Center, says greater public awareness of the need for organs would help. "This comes out of the goodness of the hearts of people," he said. "The donors are really the heroes."
Organ procurement officials encourage everyone to make their wishes known: Tell your family whether you want your organs donated so relatives won't be faced with guessing at a time when they're grieving.
Fewer than 5 percent of people will ever have the chance to donate organs at death, by dying on a ventilator. This can happen after a car accident, gunshot wound, cardiac arrest, asphyxiation, stroke or brain hemorrhage.
Many more people — about 29 percent of those who died in hospitals in the Rochester region in recent years — are eligible to donate tissues, such as eyes, skin, heart valves, bone, blood vessels and tendons.
Donated skin can save a burn victim's life. A donated bone segment can save someone from amputation. Allograft heart valve implants, unlike artificial valves, allow people to avoid life-long dependence on blood-thinning medication. Donated veins for bypass surgery preclude the need for a second surgical site for the patient.
Almost 200 cornea transplants each year in the Rochester region restore vision to blind or visually impaired people. Dorothy Turner of Henrietta was struggling to see before she had cornea transplants, first in 1983 and the second eye in 1990. The first transplant allowed her to keep working as a kindergarten teacher in the City School District. Now retired, she's still able to drive, to garden and to see her three grandchildren.
Steve and Ellen Karnisky of Greece know that at least 20 people benefited from the organs and tissue from their 15-year-old son, Rich, who died in a car accident in June 2000. "It's a way to have snatched good from evil," his father said.
One donor giving multiple organs and tissue can help more than 50 people.Organs and tissue not good for transplantation still can be donated for research.
Organs donated for transplant are distributed through the national United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) system. It looks for the best match based on criteria such as blood type and size of the organ. For certain organs, other factors — including medical urgency of the recipient and immune-system match — are vital.
LifeSharers believes that people who are willing to be organ donors themselves should get priority on waiting lists. Their members sign donor cards — from lifesharers.org, (888) 674-2688 — instructing their family and organ procurement officials to call LifeSharers for its members' names, to choose the one who's highest on the UNOS ranking for each organ. Federal and state laws allow donors, living or deceased, to direct donations to a particular person.
But Kochik, whose network coordinates all organ donations locally, says a list of people isn't the same as one name and that the LifeSharers approach couldn't be followed because it conflicts with the national system.
David Undis, executive director of LifeSharers, says if transplant coordinators refuse to look at his list, he could give them just one name, but it might not be the best match.
LifeSharers membership nearly doubled in the last year to 9,287. So far, none of its members have died in a way that their organs could be donated.Dr. David Kaufman, medical director of surgical intensive care at UR Medical Center and a medical ethicist, doesn't believe that neither LifeSharers nor financial incentives will improve the organ donation system. Financial incentives could make the reasons for donation murkier and, in the long run, lead to fewer donations, he says. LifeSharers would disrupt the national system to jump their members ahead in line.
During a recent dialysis session at New York Dialysis Services' Strong Health Dialysis center in Brighton, Goossen said that he signed up with LifeSharers in the hope that he'll get a kidney sooner. "I'd be willing to take any steps necessary to increase my chances of getting one," he said.
Some people get a kidney transplant from a live donor, typically a relative or friend. Goossen says he's not comfortable asking someone for such a sacrifice. If the organ didn't work initially, or didn't last, he'd feel terrible, he said.
Goossen has been called twice in the past year with news that a cadaver kidney was available. But, both times, final testing at the hospital canceled the transplant.
A second kidney transplant is a harder match, but the prior transplant doesn't change his place on the waiting list.So Goossen waits and hopes. "I get very impatient," he admitted. He's looked at a Web site offering kidney transplants for $70,000 in China — a country that has allowed use of organs (allegedly donated) from prisoners executed hours or days after arrest. He's also looked at a Web site offering to match live donors with recipients for an administrative fee.
Goossen wishes more people would donate organs after they die and doesn't understand why they don't. "They don't need them," he says.CSWINGLE@DemocratandChronicle.com
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Globe and Mail Article
China's deadly scheme to harvest organs
LEIGH TURNER
Print Edition 18/07/07 Page A23
In China, executed prisoners provide the main source of organs for transplantation. Physicians take blood samples from the prisoners and match tissue types to transplant recipients. Once they are killed, their organs are transplanted into patients wealthy enough to afford transplantation at Chinese hospitals
LEIGH TURNER
Print Edition 18/07/07 Page A23
In China, executed prisoners provide the main source of organs for transplantation. Physicians take blood samples from the prisoners and match tissue types to transplant recipients. Once they are killed, their organs are transplanted into patients wealthy enough to afford transplantation at Chinese hospitals
Changing Organ Donation Rules
Analysis: Changing organ donation rules
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 2:12am BST 18/07/2007
Changing the law to automatically make everyone an organ donor unless they expressly register otherwise is controversial.
The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, cites Spain as an example where switching to an opt-out system increased the number of donor organs available.
But equally there are examples that show the opposite - Sweden has an opt-out system and a lower donation rate than the UK.
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To view this video you need Javascript enabled.
Austria operates a "hard" opt-out system where the wishes of the deceased overrule those of the relatives completely but other European countries such as Belgium, have a soft opt-out system that gives families a say.
In America doctors have to ask relatives about the possibility of organ donation by law. This means possible donations are not missed and Sir Liam admitted that this can be a problem in the UK.
A report from UK Transplant, the organisation that matches recipients and donors, found that in 2003 and 2004 there was no record of families being approached about donation in 15 per cent of cases. These are valuable opportunities that have been missed.
The opt-out or presumed consent system runs the risk that those who have not consented to donation but have not registered their objections for whatever reason end up having organs taken. This could be extremely upsetting for family members and destroy public confidence in the transplant system.
Sir Liam argues that the only way to increase the number of organs available for donation is to change to an opt-out system but it may be more prudent to strengthen the current measures first before taking such a radical approach.
A large scale public awareness campaign highlighting that on average one person dies every while waiting for a donor organ may encourage relatives of potential donors to follow uphold their wishes and encourage more people to join the register.
The possibility of changing to an opt-out system has been debated in Parliament recently and again under the Human Tissue Act and on both occasions the consensus was that the opt-in register should remain
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor
Last Updated: 2:12am BST 18/07/2007
Changing the law to automatically make everyone an organ donor unless they expressly register otherwise is controversial.
The Chief Medical Officer, Sir Liam Donaldson, cites Spain as an example where switching to an opt-out system increased the number of donor organs available.
But equally there are examples that show the opposite - Sweden has an opt-out system and a lower donation rate than the UK.
advertisement
To view this video you need Javascript enabled.
Austria operates a "hard" opt-out system where the wishes of the deceased overrule those of the relatives completely but other European countries such as Belgium, have a soft opt-out system that gives families a say.
In America doctors have to ask relatives about the possibility of organ donation by law. This means possible donations are not missed and Sir Liam admitted that this can be a problem in the UK.
A report from UK Transplant, the organisation that matches recipients and donors, found that in 2003 and 2004 there was no record of families being approached about donation in 15 per cent of cases. These are valuable opportunities that have been missed.
The opt-out or presumed consent system runs the risk that those who have not consented to donation but have not registered their objections for whatever reason end up having organs taken. This could be extremely upsetting for family members and destroy public confidence in the transplant system.
Sir Liam argues that the only way to increase the number of organs available for donation is to change to an opt-out system but it may be more prudent to strengthen the current measures first before taking such a radical approach.
A large scale public awareness campaign highlighting that on average one person dies every while waiting for a donor organ may encourage relatives of potential donors to follow uphold their wishes and encourage more people to join the register.
The possibility of changing to an opt-out system has been debated in Parliament recently and again under the Human Tissue Act and on both occasions the consensus was that the opt-in register should remain
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Yale New Haven Appointment
HealthNewsDigest.com) - New Haven, CT, July 17, 2007 - Sukru Emre, M.D., has been appointed director of the Yale-New Haven Transplantation Center and section chief of transplant surgery and immunology in the department of surgery at Yale School of Medicine. In his role, Dr. Emre will oversee the activities of the center and its multi-disciplinary group of physicians and caregivers. He will also continue to practice his speciality, adult and pediatric liver transplantation. (photo by Robert Lisak)"Dr. Emre is a leader in the field of liver transplantation," noted Tucker Leary, vice president, administration, Yale-New Haven Hospital. "He is recognized throughout the Northeast for his expertise in the area of pediatric transplantation. We are pleased he has become a member of the Yale-New Haven team."Dr. Emre received his medical degree and completed his residency at the University of Istanbul, Turkey. He completed one fellowship in hepatobiliary surgery at the University of Istanbul and another in transplant surgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.Prior to coming to Yale-New Haven, Dr. Emre directed both the pediatric and adult liver transplant programs at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Under his leadership, the program at Mount Sinai became one of the nation's best. He also helped develop and structure Mount Sinai’s transplant surgery fellowship program, one of the most sought-after training programs in the country.“In addition to organ transplants, Dr. Emre’s major interests include solving complex clinical problems in both pediatric and adult liver transplantation and maximizing the availability of donor organs,” explained Robert Udelsman, M.D., Yale-New Haven Hospital’s chief of surgery. “He has extraordinary expertise in performing split-liver transplants (dividing a liver between two recipients) and living donor transplants which involves transplanting a portion of a donor’s healthy liver.”Dr. Emre’s research interests include liver transplantation in patients with liver cancer, quality of life and recurrent diseases after transplantation, organ allocation and organ donation. Dr. Emre’s many society memberships include the American College of Surgeons, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, American Society of Transplantation, American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, International Pediatric Transplantation Association, American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association, International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association and the International Liver Transplant Society. He also serves on the editorial boards for the Annals of Medical Sciences and Transplantation Proceedings, Liver Transplantation and Pediatric Transplantation. Dr. Emre is the author of more than 180 publications and 5 book chapters and was named one of the top doctors in the U.S. in 2006 by Castle Connolly Medical Ltd., a nationally recognized healthcare research and information company. Also, he has been recognized as one of the best physicians in the New York metropolitan area by New York magazine in its annual “Best Doctors” issue since 2005. Yale-New Haven’s Transplantation Center offers a full range of transplant and post-transplant support services and its physicians are dedicated to the care of patients with end-stage organ failure who might benefit from transplantation. Programs include: heart, liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants; state-of-the-art medical therapy for patients suffering from kidney and liver failure; liver cancer in cirrhotic patients and those with Type I diabetes mellitus; and vascular access services for patients with end-stage kidney disease. Additionally, the Yale-New Haven transplant physicians are actively engaged in clinical research that leads to new and improved treatments related to organ transplants and designed to continually improve the outlook for transplant patients. Dr. Emre began his position at Yale-New Haven Hospital on July 9.www.ynhh.orgwww.HealthNewsDigest
The Road Not Taken
The Road not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Robert Frost
Gratitude
Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation. Author: Brian Tracy
Compulsory Organ donations ?
Compulsory organ donation?
There could be a big change in the law on organ donations. Britain's top doctor is expected to call for people to automatically donate when they die. At the moment there aren't enough livers, kidneys and hearts to go round. There are 7,000 people on the waiting list. On average one of those dies every day. The NHS says it needs three times the number that are currently being donated. There would be an opt-out though. You'd have to register if you didn't want to be on the list.
Have your say
There could be a big change in the law on organ donations. Britain's top doctor is expected to call for people to automatically donate when they die. At the moment there aren't enough livers, kidneys and hearts to go round. There are 7,000 people on the waiting list. On average one of those dies every day. The NHS says it needs three times the number that are currently being donated. There would be an opt-out though. You'd have to register if you didn't want to be on the list.
Have your say
Monday, July 16, 2007
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.
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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
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
Sunday, July 15, 2007
July 16th-Thought for the day
An understanding heart is everything in a teacher, and cannot be esteemed highly enough. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feeling. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child. Author: Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), Swiss psychiatrist, founded analytical psychology
Woman makes life-saving decision to donate kidney
Perfect match
Woman makes life-saving decision to donate kidney
It's been a long wait for Donnie Hammack.
Hammack, 46, has been on the national waiting list for a kidney transplant since July 2006.- Because of a tough decision from a close family friend, his wait has become a little shorter. The decision has also helped change a company's policy regarding organ donations and may lead to legislation to help future donors.
Hammack will receive a live donor kidney transplant in August.
The waiting game takes place every day, not only for Hammack, but also for thousands throughout the U.S.
There are 96,323 people on the national waiting list for organ donations as of April, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Of that, 70,870, like Hammack, are waiting for kidneys.
In 2006, 3,916 kidney patients died while waiting for transplants, according to the foundation.
But Hammack's close friend, Pam Melson, 31, didn't want to wait around and watch him become a statistic.
Perfect donor
When Melson ran into the Hammacks at the local dollar store in November, she learned that Donnie needed a kidney.
"I wanted to do anything possible to help," Melson said.
Melson says she first asked her supervisor, plant manager Doug Barnett, of Tennessee Apparel in Waynesboro, for permission to take time off from work so she could be tested.
She says he gave her the OK, making the decision to go forward with testing an easy one.
After extensive bloodwork, EKGs, urine samples and both social worker and surgeon interviews, doctors declared Melson's kidney a perfect match for Hammack's body.
The fact that Melson was not a family member surprised Vanderbilt doctors, who said Melson match was like that of a sibling.
"Matching like a sibling is not unusual for nonfamily, but he is still truly lucky," said Dr. Mark A. Wigger, director of the adult heart transplant program and multi-organ transplant physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Doctors set an initial surgery date for June 5 and Hammack thought his wait was finally coming to an end.
Roadblocks
It wasn't until Melson requested time off from work in May that she was faced with a decision that would eventually change policy at her workplace.
Tennessee Apparel officials sent a letter to Melson on May 22 denying her unpaid time off to go through with the surgery.
The company, headquartered in Tullahoma, Tenn., cited that the Family Medical Leave Act, which grants employees up to 12 weeks of leave for serious health conditions, did not apply to her situation.
"The unpaid leave off is only for immediate family," said Tennessee Apparel Vice President Dave Roberts.
Melson is not directly related to Hammack. Hammack's wife, Wileda, is a distant cousin to Melson's mother, Nell.
But Melson didn't look at the issue the same way that Barnett did.
"It's not blood that makes you kin," she said. "It's how you feel about that person that makes you kin," said Melson, who has known Hammack all her life.
When this roadblock came up, Wileda Hammack began an Internet search for any laws that would help Pam's case.
When she stumbled upon a 2005 amendment to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, she thought she'd found the answer.
The bill, cited as the "Living Organ Donor Job Security Act of 2005" calls for reasonable leave under FMLA for non-federal employees who provide living organ donations.
The amendment, however, never passed.
Doctors canceled the June 5 surgery date. Donnie would have to wait again.
High absenteeism
Tennessee Apparel offers company leave on a case-by-case basis, but Roberts said Melson didn't qualify for that because of her high absenteeism.
Melson acknowledged that she missed about a month of work in the past year.
She said the reason she had to miss work was to take care of her sick children.
Melson has a 14-year-old daughter, Lisa, and 9-year-old boy and girl twins, Jessie and Shania.
"I don't miss work unless I have to," she said. "All three of my kids had the flu at one point."
As the sole financial provider for her family, Melson could not risk her job security for the surgery.
When her husband, James, lost his job at a local store and was not able to find another job because he did not have a high school diploma or GED, Melson became the breadwinner.
Melson, who has worked for the company since January 2003, said Tennessee Apparel was one of the highest paying jobs in the area and had great employee benefits.
She said she planned to save money to be able to pay bills in advance while she was off for surgery.
Hammack encouraged Melson to keep her job so she could support her family.
"I told her not to worry about me," he said.
His doctors said he would be able to wait another two to five years without a transplant.
"Donnie was worried about me, and I was worried about Donnie," Melson said.
But Melson didn't want to wait and possibly watch her friend's health deteriorate any further: At 5 feet 5 inches tall, Hammack watched his weight rapidly decline, dropping from 165 pounds to a mere 125 pounds in a year.
Decision reversal
After Nashville newspaper The Tennessean and Nashville WKRN Channel 2 reported Melson's plight with her employer, Tennessee Apparel reversed its decision and granted Melson FMLA leave for organ donation even though it did not have a policy governing organ donations for non-family members.
Melson's request marked the first time that the issue was raised in more than 100 years of the company's history, according to a company release.
The government-contracted company makes military pants for the U.S. Marine Corps and Army. Melson's job is to sew the top cord on the back pockets. Those duties, now, would have to wait.
Waiting game
Waiting is something Hammack has had to adjust to all his life.
Hammack received his first transplant on May 22, exactly 19 years from the day that Melson received the initial denial letter from Tennessee Apparel.
He was 28 years old with congestive heart failure and had to wait seven weeks for a heart transplant in Huntsville.
"The waiting part is the hardest part of it," he said.
After the transplant, doctors prescribed anti-rejection medicines for Donnie to take for the rest of his life. He takes a daily cocktail of 15 different medicines, including painkillers.
One of those medicines, a cyclosporine that prevents the body's white blood cells from rejecting a transplanted organ, carries the risk of liver and kidney problems as well as high blood pressure.
But Hammack knew those risks and opted to have the heart surgery so he could continue his life.
After recovery, he was able to help coach his two kids in baseball and softball until his kidneys went into failure in July of 2006.
At that point, he had to begin traveling more than 100 miles to and from dialysis three times a week in Columbia, Tenn. He waits three hours during each visit for the process.
Dialysis helps the body remove waste, salt and excess water and helps maintain levels of potassium, sodium and bicarbonate in the body, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Because Hammack has to maintain strict dietary guidelines for his health, certain foods are off limits.
"The first thing I want to do (after the kidney transplant) is eat a tomato and a banana," he said.
Both fruits are high in potassium, which is a mineral that healthy kidneys regulate.
Donnie has a couple other plans that he can't wait to do once his transplant is complete.
New freedoms
Hammack has always been close to his family.
He and Wileda have been married 22 years and have two children: a daughter, Alecia, 20, who is studying to be a paramedic, and a son, D.J., 17.
"It is one of my wishes to be able to see my kids graduate from high school," Hammack said.
Alecia graduated in 2004, and D.J. is set to graduate next spring.
But Hammack also wants to be able to do a few things on his own after the kidney transplant.
For one, the transplant will free him from dialysis and enable him to spend more time with friends and family.
But he also can't wait to get back to a sport that he enjoys.
"I can't wait to get down to Texas and shoot a buck," he said of getting to go deer hunting again.
Melson couldn't be happier to be able to help her friend get back to enjoying life.
With the surgery about a month after Donnie's 47th birthday, Melson says she's giving the ultimate gift: life.
"I'm so thrilled to be able to do this for him and thankful that Tennessee Apparel is letting me do it," she said.
The Hammacks hope that their situation has caught the eyes of lawmakers who have the power to change policy.
"We want everybody to know that organ donation works," said Wileda. "We live in a volunteer state. We want that (federal) amendment off the desk so nobody else will have to wait
Woman makes life-saving decision to donate kidney
Last Updated:July 14. 2007 11:00PM
Published: July 15. 2007 3:30AM
Published: July 15. 2007 3:30AM
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Donnnie Hammack talks with friend and fellow Waynesboro resident, Pam Melson, who will donate her kidney to him.
WHO CAN DONATE?
| |
Hammack, 46, has been on the national waiting list for a kidney transplant since July 2006.- Because of a tough decision from a close family friend, his wait has become a little shorter. The decision has also helped change a company's policy regarding organ donations and may lead to legislation to help future donors.
Hammack will receive a live donor kidney transplant in August.
The waiting game takes place every day, not only for Hammack, but also for thousands throughout the U.S.
There are 96,323 people on the national waiting list for organ donations as of April, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Of that, 70,870, like Hammack, are waiting for kidneys.
In 2006, 3,916 kidney patients died while waiting for transplants, according to the foundation.
But Hammack's close friend, Pam Melson, 31, didn't want to wait around and watch him become a statistic.
Perfect donor
When Melson ran into the Hammacks at the local dollar store in November, she learned that Donnie needed a kidney.
"I wanted to do anything possible to help," Melson said.
Melson says she first asked her supervisor, plant manager Doug Barnett, of Tennessee Apparel in Waynesboro, for permission to take time off from work so she could be tested.
She says he gave her the OK, making the decision to go forward with testing an easy one.
After extensive bloodwork, EKGs, urine samples and both social worker and surgeon interviews, doctors declared Melson's kidney a perfect match for Hammack's body.
The fact that Melson was not a family member surprised Vanderbilt doctors, who said Melson match was like that of a sibling.
"Matching like a sibling is not unusual for nonfamily, but he is still truly lucky," said Dr. Mark A. Wigger, director of the adult heart transplant program and multi-organ transplant physician at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
Doctors set an initial surgery date for June 5 and Hammack thought his wait was finally coming to an end.
Roadblocks
It wasn't until Melson requested time off from work in May that she was faced with a decision that would eventually change policy at her workplace.
Tennessee Apparel officials sent a letter to Melson on May 22 denying her unpaid time off to go through with the surgery.
The company, headquartered in Tullahoma, Tenn., cited that the Family Medical Leave Act, which grants employees up to 12 weeks of leave for serious health conditions, did not apply to her situation.
"The unpaid leave off is only for immediate family," said Tennessee Apparel Vice President Dave Roberts.
Melson is not directly related to Hammack. Hammack's wife, Wileda, is a distant cousin to Melson's mother, Nell.
But Melson didn't look at the issue the same way that Barnett did.
"It's not blood that makes you kin," she said. "It's how you feel about that person that makes you kin," said Melson, who has known Hammack all her life.
When this roadblock came up, Wileda Hammack began an Internet search for any laws that would help Pam's case.
When she stumbled upon a 2005 amendment to the Family Medical Leave Act of 1993, she thought she'd found the answer.
The bill, cited as the "Living Organ Donor Job Security Act of 2005" calls for reasonable leave under FMLA for non-federal employees who provide living organ donations.
The amendment, however, never passed.
Doctors canceled the June 5 surgery date. Donnie would have to wait again.
High absenteeism
Tennessee Apparel offers company leave on a case-by-case basis, but Roberts said Melson didn't qualify for that because of her high absenteeism.
Melson acknowledged that she missed about a month of work in the past year.
She said the reason she had to miss work was to take care of her sick children.
Melson has a 14-year-old daughter, Lisa, and 9-year-old boy and girl twins, Jessie and Shania.
"I don't miss work unless I have to," she said. "All three of my kids had the flu at one point."
As the sole financial provider for her family, Melson could not risk her job security for the surgery.
When her husband, James, lost his job at a local store and was not able to find another job because he did not have a high school diploma or GED, Melson became the breadwinner.
Melson, who has worked for the company since January 2003, said Tennessee Apparel was one of the highest paying jobs in the area and had great employee benefits.
She said she planned to save money to be able to pay bills in advance while she was off for surgery.
Hammack encouraged Melson to keep her job so she could support her family.
"I told her not to worry about me," he said.
His doctors said he would be able to wait another two to five years without a transplant.
"Donnie was worried about me, and I was worried about Donnie," Melson said.
But Melson didn't want to wait and possibly watch her friend's health deteriorate any further: At 5 feet 5 inches tall, Hammack watched his weight rapidly decline, dropping from 165 pounds to a mere 125 pounds in a year.
Decision reversal
After Nashville newspaper The Tennessean and Nashville WKRN Channel 2 reported Melson's plight with her employer, Tennessee Apparel reversed its decision and granted Melson FMLA leave for organ donation even though it did not have a policy governing organ donations for non-family members.
Melson's request marked the first time that the issue was raised in more than 100 years of the company's history, according to a company release.
The government-contracted company makes military pants for the U.S. Marine Corps and Army. Melson's job is to sew the top cord on the back pockets. Those duties, now, would have to wait.
Waiting game
Waiting is something Hammack has had to adjust to all his life.
Hammack received his first transplant on May 22, exactly 19 years from the day that Melson received the initial denial letter from Tennessee Apparel.
He was 28 years old with congestive heart failure and had to wait seven weeks for a heart transplant in Huntsville.
"The waiting part is the hardest part of it," he said.
After the transplant, doctors prescribed anti-rejection medicines for Donnie to take for the rest of his life. He takes a daily cocktail of 15 different medicines, including painkillers.
One of those medicines, a cyclosporine that prevents the body's white blood cells from rejecting a transplanted organ, carries the risk of liver and kidney problems as well as high blood pressure.
But Hammack knew those risks and opted to have the heart surgery so he could continue his life.
After recovery, he was able to help coach his two kids in baseball and softball until his kidneys went into failure in July of 2006.
At that point, he had to begin traveling more than 100 miles to and from dialysis three times a week in Columbia, Tenn. He waits three hours during each visit for the process.
Dialysis helps the body remove waste, salt and excess water and helps maintain levels of potassium, sodium and bicarbonate in the body, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Because Hammack has to maintain strict dietary guidelines for his health, certain foods are off limits.
"The first thing I want to do (after the kidney transplant) is eat a tomato and a banana," he said.
Both fruits are high in potassium, which is a mineral that healthy kidneys regulate.
Donnie has a couple other plans that he can't wait to do once his transplant is complete.
New freedoms
Hammack has always been close to his family.
He and Wileda have been married 22 years and have two children: a daughter, Alecia, 20, who is studying to be a paramedic, and a son, D.J., 17.
"It is one of my wishes to be able to see my kids graduate from high school," Hammack said.
Alecia graduated in 2004, and D.J. is set to graduate next spring.
But Hammack also wants to be able to do a few things on his own after the kidney transplant.
For one, the transplant will free him from dialysis and enable him to spend more time with friends and family.
But he also can't wait to get back to a sport that he enjoys.
"I can't wait to get down to Texas and shoot a buck," he said of getting to go deer hunting again.
Melson couldn't be happier to be able to help her friend get back to enjoying life.
With the surgery about a month after Donnie's 47th birthday, Melson says she's giving the ultimate gift: life.
"I'm so thrilled to be able to do this for him and thankful that Tennessee Apparel is letting me do it," she said.
The Hammacks hope that their situation has caught the eyes of lawmakers who have the power to change policy.
"We want everybody to know that organ donation works," said Wileda. "We live in a volunteer state. We want that (federal) amendment off the desk so nobody else will have to wait
Organ donor with a heart of gold.
| By KATIE SCHNEIDER, SUN MEDIA |
|
CALGARY -- Lucas LaBerge is now a healthy seven-month-old thanks to an organ donor with a heart of gold.
The Calgary baby was born Dec. 4, with a rare heart condition called ebstein anomaly, an abnormality of a tricuspid valve -- leaving his heart swollen and the tot blue in colour because of poor blood circulation.
Lucas had to be flown to the Stollery Children's Hospital in Edmonton, said his mom, Aprile.
"It was completely devastating," she said. "It's been a pretty tough road."
Lucas was discharged soon after treatment and he and his family returned to Calgary.
 |
But four months later, in May, he caught a cold and went into cardiac arrest at the Alberta Children's hospital.
He was flown back to Edmonton where doctors performed a surgery to repair his valve, but it was unsuccessful, and the little one couldn't come off heart bypass.
"At that point, it was life or death," Aprile said.
Then days later, an infant heart became available and Lucas underwent a transplant surgery May 21.
"I was scared but so overwhelmed by everything. I know it saved his life," Aprile said.
"It was a miracle we got it that quickly."
Pediatric transplant cardiologist Dr. Yashu Coe said it was fortunate a heart became available so quickly and that blood types do not have to be matched for infant transplants as they do for adults and older children.
Coe said Lucas's story demonstrates the importance of organ donations.
"Without that, he wouldn't be around today," he said.
He said even though it's not easy to donate a deceased loved one's organs, especially when in mourning, that loss of a life could give life to another.
"By being a donor, you end up helping eight to 10 to 12 people -- one heart to help one person, two lungs to go to two people," he said.
Aprile is also spreading the message of the "profound effect" organ donations can have on someone's life.
"(Lucas) is doing phenomenally -- he looks amazing and is doing great," she said.
"I can't thank the donor family enough."
Aprile and her husband Aaron are staying in Edmonton while Lucas undergoes more tests and the family hopes to return to Calgary at the end of August
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