Concern over national decline in people willing to be organ donors

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Concern over national decline in people willing to be organ donors

Thursday, March 20, 2008
Reported by: Stacy Daniel

PASO ROBLES

Concerns are surfacing about a national decline in people willing to donate their organs, after the highly publicized case against Dr.Hootan Roozrokh.

He is the doctor accused of speeding up a patient's death to harvest his organs.

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, more than 98,000 people nationwide are currently waiting for a vital organ transplant.

Nearly 4,000 new patients are added to the waiting list each month. Every day, 17 people die while waiting for a transplant of a vital organ.

After receiving a transplant, Joe Quiroz says he has a new lease on life. Now he has a whole new appreciation for doing things like remodeling his house.

"I was deathly sick. You can't tell it now, but I lost a lot of weight, and I had a hard time getting around," said Joe Quiroz.

That was life 10 years ago, before Joe Quiroz received a life-saving kidney transplant.

"It was from a donor who had passed away in a motorcycle accident, 24-years-old," said Quiroz.

Quiroz was on the waiting list to receive an organ transplant for more than two years. He is convinced he wouldn't be here today had he not received what he calls, "the gift of life."

"I know I'm living testament to people: lives can be saved by having an organ transplant," said Quiroz.

He has a message he wants people to hear:

"Don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here," said Quiroz.

The concern of donor agencies is that people may rethink acting as organ donors after hearing about the case of Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, who treated Quiroz after his surgery.

"One of the most common misconceptions we see here is that a hospital won't work as hard to save them if they are identified as potential organ donors," said Vice President of Communications at OneLegacy, Bryan Stewart.

Donor specialist Bryan Stewart goes on to say the case involving Dr. Roozrokh involves the actions of one individual. He says the case is not about the practice of organ donation.

"The public should be very reassured that procedures are in place to make sure that every potential donor, first and foremost is given the most aggressive life saving treatment possible," said Stewart.

Stewart tells Action News the agency has seen no decline in donors since the Roozrokh case began.

Last month, we asked you if the Dr. Hootan Roozrokh case made you less inclined to be an organ donor.

162 people voted in our KSBY.com poll.

30 percent of you said yes.

70 percent said the case would not affect their willingness to be an organ donor.

http://www.ksby.com/global/story.asp?s=8049063&ClientType=Printable