I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: Transplant Discussion => Topic started by: Rerun on February 18, 2006, 06:58:15 PM
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Buying and selling of organs for transplantation is illegal in the United States. What do you think?
I would not do it because it is illegal, but if it became legal, I think it would be a good thing. AND, don't think it doesn't go on! :-\
I just don't think it is a big crime. Say a young college graduate wants to pay off some of his college loans; what is wrong with him selling a kidney? He will do just fine with one.
It would be like any other commodity.....price would be determined by supply and demand. Right now, I think the family who donates a loved one's organs should be compensated some way. Like the funeral should be paid for or something.
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There are two major problems I see with the selling of organs. The first being, rich people who would get first choice and they would be transplanted first. The second problem would be possible criminal acts, for example a man needs to "Buy" his son a kidney to get his son off of dialysis. Well that man goes out and steals/robs to get the money neccessary to save his sons life.
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Let ALL the rich people go buy kidneys. Gets them off our list! ;D
I think kidney transplants are pretty well funded. The movie John Q was about a Father trying to get the hospital to give his son a "liver" if I remember right. I think with other organs, you have to have pretty damn good insurance or lots of fund raisers. >:(
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Come on members, vote let us know your feelings on this matter.
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touchy subject... I am opposed to the selling of organs I think. There are other methods to harvest live organs I think. In Japan I understand prisoners are required to be tested and if they are a match their organs are put up for the list or whatever method they use there. Not a bad idea in my opinion. The current situation is not perfect by any means but I don't have any better solutions off the top of my head. So I just deal with what is currently being used. Kinda wishy washy huh?
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I would like to buy a kidney. That way it is mine. No guilt. :-[
Like buying a car vs. someone giving you a car. If someone gives you a car, you will be judged where and when and how your drive it and if you wreck it then everyone feels bad.
If you buy a car, it is yours and the only who will be hurt if you damage it by driving stupid is you. 8)
Understand what I mean? ???
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Here's why I think selling an organ is a bad thing. A lot of people who need a kidney will go to places like Taiwan to buy a kidney. Here many people are living in very poor communities, and when offered a couple of thousand dollars they think that this money will be able to save their families from poverty. The organ is transplanted, the North American, or European or whatever pays the doctor and the donor, and then flies back to their home country. What the problem is, is now that the doctor has been paid, he could care less about this farmer that donated his/her kidney. So many times they dont receive proper medical treatment. As well they now have to pay for all of the medication involved with the recovery (which most of the time, they dont realize they had to do...) and since they have had to quit their job (most of these people work on farms or other places doing things like lifting heavy bags of rice) and are unable to return to this job until they are healed, they will lose their job. So at first the 1 to 5 thousand dollars or whatever may seem like a lot of money for someone from a poor country, but that money burns up a lot faster than the donor had envisioned and in the long run this operation can cause nothing but pain and suffering for themselves and their family.
As for people from more "well-off" countries, i think the selling of organs would lead to nothing but problems. If I'm the mother or father of a child who is brain-dead and I am faced with the situation of donating their organs or not. Why not sell them and maybe pay some medical bills or set up a college fund for another child? What would happen would be that there would be a shortage of kidneys available for those who could not afford to buy a kidney...and this is not fair to these people.
Just my 2 cents
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A few Asians, have been over to India, Pakistan and Bangladesh from the unit to buy Kidneys. I do not agree with it because it's the rich taking off the poor. Then if the Kidney does not work they are back on the unit.
Then one of the machines can only be used by that patient for three months. All my family have been tested
to see if anyone of them could give me a kidney. But there were no matches. After nearly eighteen years on Dialysis. I am so used to it I do not know it I could cope with a transplant. I had a transplant late 1980 it never worked properly. So always felt ill with it, never out of hospital, then at the end, may 1988 if anyone just touched me I would bruise. What finished the kidney off was a 24hr nose bleed. My own protein killed the kidney off. I went on CAPD and felt 100% better. Not to well on Haemodialysis.
Kevno
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I don't think I could buy an organ. I can't even accept the offers from my family to allow them to try and donate one to me when the time comes. I would always be worried that they themselves may someday need the donated organ. Couldn't live with the guilt if they got sick. But then I'm not on dialysis yet either. That might change my mind real fast LOL
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I try to tell people about the "guilt" and they don't understand. That is EXACTLY why I won't let family or friends donate. It is a BIG responsibility. >:(
Now there is this lady that insists on trying to match me and I'm going to let her because she is hell bent on giving one of her kidneys away. She has already tried twice and they didn't match. She has a BIG heart and is just so loving and nice. She just wants to get 1 person off dialysis.
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I don't think you should be able to buy/sell organs. I think only the rich would end up getting them.
I have received two living related kidney transplants. My sister gave me the first one she is fine. My brother gave me the second one he is fine with exception of some self inflicted problems.
Kidney failure rate is lowest amongst kidney donors because they have to be soooo healthy to donate to begin with.
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I've heard of some hospitals that won't do transplants if they find out you advertised looking for a kidney on line or in the paper. I don't have a problem with people making a public appeal for an organ of any kind as long as your not paying for it.
There was a case in the new recently where a woman, a single mother put a sign on her front lone asking if any one would give her a kidney, her hospital refused to do the transplant because they didn't think it was fair of her to do that when there are so many people on the list ahead of her.
I don't see any thing wrong with a person being proactive in there search for a kidney after all don't they have public appeals all the time for bone marrow and even blood drives. I don't think that is any dif.
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Well, you don't see the hospitals doing the surgery for free.
That is like McDonald's donating the beef and charging for the hamburgers. IT is BS. It is just like anything else. There is a price for everything. I personally would like to see it come out in the open. :o
Good grief, you can pay a woman to carry your baby!
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I'm not advocating going to China to get an organ from a death row prisoner. I'm advocating paying a "Potential" donor that wants to sell theirs. He/she would have to go through all the other workups that any other "Good Samaritan" donor would do. You don't think this already goes on? I bet it does.
Oh sure..... "I saw this person across the street and I just knew I was meant to give her my kidney and I went up to her and told her that I was meant to give her my kidney." RIGHT!
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I would always be wondering how the donor was doing, just could not live with myself if anything happened to the other kidney of the donor. Then the donor would end up on dialysis.
We all know how we feel about that :(
Kevno
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I have been told that "here in the states" if a donor ends up on dialysis then they go to the top of the list if they are an eligible candidate.
But, that is my point. If you "pay" for it then you wouldn't feel as bad. If someone GAVE you a nice car and you wrecked it you would feel like SHIT. But, if you bought the car and wrecked it, they guy wouldn't care. ???
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China Law has gone into affect that no organs will be sold, transplants on foreigners are to be stopped. All organs in China will require written consent from the donor. The hospitals have no idea how this will effect their programs. March 2006 this went into affect.
I am trying to find the article to post it here. Will look again.
Katherine
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If I smashed my new car that I bought, I would be crying for a WEEK :'( :'(
Sorry we will have to agree to disagree on this Rerun ;)
Kevno
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haha yeah, if someone gave me a new car and I crashed it, i would be a lot less pissed off compared to if i had paid for the car!!
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I dont really know what to think. I think if it ever were to become legalised then there would have to be tough laws that come with it. The problem I could see is, those who are waiting for transplants who cant work/dont have savings, would be waiting forever to receive a "free" kidney. And the rich people may be taking up our hospital beds and OR's. On the other hand, it could prevent alot of need for spaces in dialysis units. I am very lucky in that my mum is all set to give me a kidney. I never even thought about asking, she just insisted. I am trying to get into shape for the op, but its pretty hard when you feel like shit all the time. But in a way that can motivate you even more. I only waited 9 months for my first transplant. It is sad that we have people waiting such a long time. But it is also said that someone dies before you get a transplant.
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Selling kidneys is illegal in U.S., Canada, and other western nations, to preserve ethics & protect people from exploitation. With blood donation, the body makes more. No one is at risk with that. But with the buying of kidneys, people who are desperate for money will put their health at risk. Sure it would make more people donate kidneys .. but it would be live donation instead of cadaver donations. That is not what is needed. What is needed is for more people to sign their donor cards! What is happening in my province (I am Canadian) is they are changing it so that everyone is assumed to be a YES for donation after death and people must opt out! This is better because so many people are for it but forget to sign their donor card.
Live donation people are giving a kidney that they might need themselves later on. It is not an extra kidney to throw away but the reason we all have 2 kidneys (born with.. well most are) is that the kidneys can be hurt or effected by so many things that we go through in our lifetime. Now parents who give a kidney to their child is done out of love. But for strangers who are just doing it for money, you have to worry that they are not getting all the information that they should be. There is a LOT to think about!
So to have someone buy and sell kidneys ... that would encourage people donating who might not have the info they should and could end up with health problems themselves and then would be on dialysis on the waiting list as well which could possibly make waiting lists longer with more people on it.
There are a lot of things to think about with this issue and a lot of the issues people don't even realize.
I know there is a lot of opinions on this at D&T City (http://groups.msn.com/DialysisTransplantCity/cautiondonors.msnw) where I first learned about this site on.
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It is called "Presumed Consent". You might want to go post that on D&T City. And yes the U.S. needs to go that way too. They are mulling over tax breaks for live donors here in the US.