Opinion
USA Today
Gift of lifeMon Jul 9, 12:20 AM ET
It is easy to be moved by the story of Everson Walls and Ron Springs. The two friends and former Dallas Cowboys teammates have shared many things, most recently a kidney, which Walls gave to Springs.
Their story, chronicled last week in USA TODAY, is one of friendship and selflessness. Springs, a type 2 diabetic, had been suffering, and waiting, for years before his old friend realized he had the same blood type and was a suitable donor.
But beyond their story is the sobering reality that many others don't have such happy endings. The waiting lists for donations of kidneys and other vital organs are growing each year. On any given day, 77 people receive transplants of one kind or another but 19 die waiting, according to OrganDonor.gov. The current waiting list is about 97,000.
Part of the solution is what Springs and Walls have been doing since their operations — promoting better awareness. The two have created an organization, called the Gift for Life Foundation, to help spread the word of the need for organ donations to those resistant to the idea or who are simply uninformed.
But the long waiting lists suggest something more is needed. While an open market for organs carries too many risks, some ideas to provide more than just encouraging words for donors are worth a look.
One is to allow for some compensation to estates to pay for funeral expenses for those who opt — typically through their state's driver's licensing agency — to be organ donors in the event of a sudden death. Another idea is to give some priority to those patients who have agreed to be donors should they need a transplant themselves.
Encouraging live organ transplants, like Walls' gift to Springs, is more of an ethical minefield. No one should be financially encouraged to give up a kidney. Some among the young, healthy and poor would ruin their lives to collect bribes from the old, sick and rich. But some reimbursement for expense or lost income might well be appropriate. A similar principle is applied in adoptions. State laws ensure that any woman who decides to place her child for adoption can have her health care and counseling costs, legal representation and, in some cases, other expenses picked up by the adoptive parents, either directly or through an agency.
It's inspiring to read stories such as those of Walls and Springs. But it would be better if stories like these were so routine that they wouldn't merit much attention.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070709/cm_usatoday/giftoflife
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