Donors must pay for travel, other costs in paired exchange

Organ donation costly: family

Donors must pay for travel, other costs in paired exchange

BY HANNAH SCISSONS, THE STARPHOENIX NOVEMBER 1, 2010 BE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT

Sometime during the next two months, Norma Yorga will travel to Toronto to have one of her kidneys removed, to be transplanted into a stranger.

At the same time, her sister, Donna Brown, will be receiving a kidney here in Saskatoon from an anonymous donor. The transplants are happening through the "living donor paired exchange" program, which Saskatchewan just began participating in this year.

Both sisters feel blessed, even though Yorga, 54, and supporting family members are incurring the cost of the flight to Toronto and hotel time there while she recovers -- plus other costs such as the lost income for Yorga's husband, who will accompany her to care for her in the days following the surgery.

"This is such a wonderful program, where people are able to get kidneys and improve their quality of life," said Yorga. "Our concern is there are people who could be giving their kidneys to other people, but they can't afford to do it."

Her oldest sister, Theresa McHugh, echoed her comment.

"If we have to find the money, we'll find the money. But there are people who wouldn't be able to find $5,000 and does that mean they won't get a kidney?" she said.

Brown, 45, has been on peritoneal dialysis for more than two years, after her kidney function deteriorated due to polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder. Every night at her home in Warman, she has to spend 81/2 hours hooked up to the dialysis machine -- the connection made through a permanent tube that extrudes from her abdomen.

Brown's been waiting for a kidney donor since before she went on dialysis. McHugh was a match, but it turned out McHugh's kidney wasn't suitable for transplant.

Yorga wasn't a match, but after hearing about a paired exchange program in the U.S., she inquired last year whether it was available in Saskatchewan. It wasn't, but she was told to check back in January. She did -- and in the second round of matches this fall, Yorga and Brown were among the donors and recipients for whom matches were found.

The province pays between $30,000 to $35,000 per year for someone to be on peritoneal dialysis -- and $55,000 per year for someone on hemodialysis, which is much more common -- so it should make sense to financially help families participating in the paired exchange program, said Yorga.

Cost analysis shows a kidney transplant saves the province substantial dollars over chronic kidney disease treatment, said Raylene Matlock, manager of the Saskatchewan Transplant Program.

"After the first year after transplant, then it starts to be a cost savings to the taxpayers of Saskatchewan because that's who pays for dialysis in Saskatchewan," she said.

The province is considering providing coverage for donors' out-of-pocket travel and accommodation costs, said Deborah Jordan, executive director of acute and emergency services with the Ministry of Health.

The living donor paired exchange program is relatively new -- not just in Saskatchewan but across Canada -- and a number of provinces are examining what costs should be covered, she said.

"If you're looking at the costs associated with providing dialysis service . . . that's an annual cost, in perpetuity," she said. "While there is certainly a cost associated with the transplant itself, that is a one-time, if you will, health-care cost."

A decision on the issue of funding is expected within the next few weeks, said Jordan.

For Brown and her extended family, it would be welcome news. It's bad enough that a donor has to look forward to a deterioration in health after giving up a kidney -- let alone potentially spend thousands of dollars travelling across the country.

"You just about feel guilty, yes, I feel guilty, for what (Yorga) has to do because of me, and what she's giving up for me," Brown said. "How do you say thank you?"

Yorga's reply: "I know she'd do it for me."

hscissons@thestarphoenix.com

http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Organ+donation+costly+family/3756043/story.html

Read more: http://www.thestarphoenix.com/life/Organ+donation+costly+family/3756043/story.html#ixzz148rvRagJ