Posted on 12/10/2007 10:27:58 PM PST by Coleus
Hundreds of below standard hearts, lungs and kidneys have been taken from drug addicts and transplanted into critically-ill patients, The Daily Telegraph has been told. Three per cent of the organs transplanted into patients in the past five years came from donors with a history of drug abuse - some of whom died from an overdose - figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act have revealed.
One transplant surgeon said doctors were "desperate" for organs and had to use some they would otherwise have rejected. The findings sparked renewed calls for a change in the law to presumed consent - in which everyone is included on the organ donor register unless they specifically opt out. Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, called for the change earlier this year and the Department of Health ordered a taskforce to investigate the proposal. Drug addicts are more likely to have hepatitis or HIV.
Although the transplanted organs are screened, there is still a risk of passing on an infection that has not yet shown up on tests. The quality of the organs can also be affected, raising the risk of complications. The figures released by UK Transplant, which runs the transplant programme, show that between April 2002 and March 2007, 450 organs were taken from donors with a history of drug abuse, including people addicted to prescribed medication, over the counter drugs and illegal narcotics.
In 14 cases the donor died of a drug overdose while 10 hearts were transplanted from patients who had a history of heart disease or had suffered a cardiac arrest before the organ was removed. Of the 450 organs used, 212 were kidneys, 126 were livers and 39 were hearts. Over the same period, 14,261 organs were used in transplants, including 833 hearts. Worryingly, one donor died from an overdose of paracetamol which can cause severe liver damage yet the liver was transplanted into a patient.
A spokesman for UK Transplant said: "I can confirm the single liver transplant from a donor who had taken a paracetamol overdose - the database indicates the donor had a cardiac arrest, but not when. "The liver was transplanted into a super-urgent case and no other organs were retrieved from the donor, mainly for reasons of the history of drug abuse." The surgeon, Nadey Hakim, the head of transplant services at Hammersmith Hospital in west London, said his unit did not usually accept organs from drug abusers.
But doctors and patients who did accept organs in such circumstances could not be blamed because often there was no other choice. "We are getting desperate," he said. "We were much more careful 10 or 15 years ago because there were more donors. The age of donors is going up. "The older the organ the more problems you are going to have. We tend not to use organs from drug addicts." Patient groups said the recipient often had no choice.
Tim Statham, the chief executive of the National Kidney Federation, said: "If it extends life then we don't have an issue with organs that are below 100 per cent." The British Heart Foundation supports a move to presumed consent for organ donation. Chris Rudge, the managing director of UK Transplant, said a detailed history was taken from all donors to establish if organs were fit for transplant. A Department of Health spokesman said: "We have asked the organ donation taskforce to look into the issue of presumed consent."
I guess if I need an organ I’m going to take what I can get (if the alternative means death.)
What are people doing to themselves.
If it is Britain, it isn’t like there are many non druggie organs available
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