Comments on: Organs For Sale?

By: Danielle

Danielle — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 03:12:11 +0000

I will also donate if I would get Health Insurance for life. I worry about the surgery and pain and to take time off from work, including all of the preliminary stuff and the medical visits afterward, not just the time in the hospital, people should get some incentive to donate. Still most people would not donate but everyone wants to be healthy and it would help eveyone the government and the people. Plus technically the people donating are in great health- why wouldn’t the government bite the bullet and insure the people who donate, we are insuring millions of veterans, disabled, elderly, why not someone who has saved the life of another.

By: Phat 15

Phat 15 — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:23:05 +0000

If people were actually paid to donate organs, I would gladly be the first in line.

By: Mark Ferraro

Mark Ferraro — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 18:30:28 +0000

What is always left out of these discussions is the fact that organ procurement organizations in the United States have annual revenues of $4 billion. Total revenue for the entire transplant industry, including the payments to the OPO’s is $20 billion. A whole body donation to an OPO or Tissue Bank is estimated to be worth $1 to $2 million to these organizations.

So it is a farce to say money is not a motivator for players in the system. What harm could come from a system that allows families to have the last and final medical expenses of their love one paid in exchange for donation of their organs?

With the adoption of the 2006 Uniform Anatomical Gift Act by 37 states, including Oklahoma and the District of Columbia, harvesting organs couldn’t be easier. Under that law, it is assumed you are a donor unless they can find evidence to the contrary. This includes hooking you up to life support systems, even if you have an Advanced Healthcare Directive that says otherwise. They can keep your body alive until they can talk to your family, to convince them to grant consent.

The Act allows for individuals to designate their preference to not be a donor, yet no donor registry run by the OPO industry will take a “no” selection.

Those who scream the loudest about keeping the system pure and free from commercial free market influences are earning substantial incomes under the current system. If we were talking about copper and Bolivia the issues would be crystal clear. Anytime the basic raw materials are free, abuses are going to happen.

Check out the information at http://www.DoNotTransplant.com, an organ donor registry that allows any American to designate a “no” answer and allows for the flexibility of changing their designation should just compensation become law in the future.

By: Phil Van Stavern

Phil Van Stavern — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:22:55 +0000

The problem with Dave Undis (the previous commenter) and the premise he uses in his Lifesharers organization is that neither he nor his organization are recognized as legitimate by those of us in the organ donation and allocation system. In fact, he misleads Lifesharers members by telling them that they will have preferred access to the organs of other Lifesharers members. That’s never going to happen, unless the donor and recipient also happen to meet the existing system’s waiting list criteria. They have no advantage.

Furthermore, his theory that more people will register as donors if they think they will not get a transplant should they need one, is completely based in fear. A noble reason to register, right? In an earlier story on another website, Undis was quoted as saying, “People who don’t want to be organ donors can have the leftovers if there are any.”

In more than 6 years, he has only managed to sign up a little more than 12,000 members. Those of us who do this lifesaving work full time have registered more than 82,000,000 Americans. And they didn’t register out of fear, they registered because they thought they might be able to save lives.

If you’d like to know how to register to be a donor in your own state, go to http://donatelife.net.

Phil Van Stavern
LifeShare of Oklahoma
21-year kidney recipient

By: Dave Undis

Dave Undis — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 12:58:04 +0000

There is an already-legal way to put a big dent in the organ shortage — allocate donated organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. UNOS, which manages the national organ allocation system, has the power to make this simple policy change. No legislative action is required.

Americans who want to donate their organs to other registered organ donors don’t have to wait for UNOS to act. They can join LifeSharers, a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at http://www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.

Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. Non-donors should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.