Posted on 09/23/2012 6:50:15 AM PDT by DallasBiff
"The new system would take 20 percent of the 'best' kidneys or kidneys that have the potential to last the longest, and give them to the 20 percent of patients that could last the longest," Cutler explained. "So, a simple example would be a young donor going into a young patient."
And the reverse would be true, too.
"Older kidneys would go to older patients," he said.
He said the current system of matching donors and recipients is based on how long someone has been waiting, how close the match is, and how likely it is another match could be found. But there are problems, he said.
"Maybe you have a great match, but it's a 72-year-old donor," he said. "Do you want to give that kidney to a 10-year-old child?"
Greenville teacher Yvonne Pannell, 54, is now on the transplant list for a second time. Her brother donated a kidney to her in 1998, but that gift is now beginning to fail.
"We've done everything we can at this point," she said, shrugging. "I've had a good life, made my mark on society. I don't have any regrets."
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
How about giving preference to people who have been on the donor lists for a long time? I’ve been on the organ donor list for over 30 years. Shouldn’t that give me a preference should I need one?
Don’t forget “We’ve got to pass the law before we find out what’s in it”.
Assuming, of course, that research can continue under Obamacare.
/johnny
How can you be on an organ donor list for 30 years? I’m on the kidney donor list now. Organs from older donors are already not given to young patients and if there is an exact match (1 in a million chance) for me anywhere in the country, I will get that kidney regardless of who is ahead of me on the list. So, this article is a little confusing to me.
"Death panels" will very probably come into existence if OsamaObamaCare ever comes into force but *this* difficult dilemma existed long before Osama Obama snorted his first line of cocaine.
What is the shelf life of a transplanted kidney?
Obamacare: Srewed without a kiss.....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3CWLCoQu7c
Yes, this has been a debate for quite some time but under Obamacare I fear it will get even worse (gas on fire).
I believe in India and the US they’ll soon be testing (2017) self-contained (coffee cup sized), implantable artificial kidneys made from a patient’s stem cells. The item has no moving parts, filters blood, regulates water levels, helps regulate BP, creates Vitamin D and has an endurance expectancy of decades.
No batteries are needed as the patient’s BP powers the system.
WOW!!!! Science-fiction becomes science-fact!!! Dr. McCoy, your patient awaits.
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/artificial-kidney-put-on-research-fast-track/25851
I wonder under Obamacare they are going to determine who can and can’t have kids??
Your body tries to “destroy” the kidney in the first year after the transplant. A lot of variables come into play but the closest match, such as a living relative donor, has the best chance of your body accepting the transplant. The averages are about 9 to 12 years depending on the match. I can’t find the literature I have on it right now so I am going strictly from memory but I think those are pretty close estimates. I recently talked to a man at the renal transplant center in my hospital who received a kidney from the cadaver list that has lasted 15 years.
How about a market in organs? Often families are left destitute when the body of the head of household is actually very valuable. It sounds morbid, but everyone benefits and profits from the organ trade except the donor or their family.
It’s stupid that we let non-profits run our blood banks, too. They’re chronically short. A pint of blood runs from $130-350+ depending on region and supplies, yet the FDA prohibits payments for blood. Why? They hate free markets and don’t trust people.
How did computer modeling work out on the climate change issue? GIGO.
Sorry to hear that. I guess kidney transplants are much different. If successful, life should be almost normal except for monthly doctor visits, specimen samples and the anti-rejection drugs. However, that is already the norm for anyone with kidney failure.
Apples and oranges. It makes perfect sense to use computer modeling to match donors and organ recipients. I can write a program to do it. It’s NOT that difficult. If someone has an agenda to manipulate data, they will do it regardless of how the data is stored or gathered.
bureaucrats making health care decisions, who’d have thunk it?
And if you die waiting for a kidney that’s in your age group, even though there’s another one in a different age group, too effing bad.
This is sick crap.
My sister is on the transplant waiting list
Soon enough your political affiliation will be a factor in whether you receive a transplant.
BS. Get educated on the death panels brought to you from YOUR LEADER!
What a stupid response to a well-thought out post. Your hatred of Romney has literally made you dumber.
Did someone just pass gas?
Low Carbohydrate Diet May Reverse Kidney Failure in People With Diabetes
Note, this is a high fat diet, NOT a high protein diet.
Hopefully, with Mitt in come this November, Obamacare will face its own death panel.
/johnny
I do miss my spleen (funny, we never talked), and would be willing to replace both, if I could get ones grown from my own tissues.
It may happen yet. I should be good for another 20 years, and grown organs (besides the ones they already do) may be an option.
Probably not under Obamacare, though.
/johnny
Thanks...yes, low carbs seem to be good everywhere. As you likely know, high protein is bad for kidneys—even those with borderline kindey function.
YOU would know; who dealt it, smells it.
This is true! I had a liver and kidney transplant in 2008. You go for a blood test once a month to check on function. You see a doctor or two once every six months. You need anti-rejection pills each and every day. Then, at least in my case, you thank God and you thank your donor every day that you are still alive.
I have found that there are many misconceptions about transplants, even amongst medical personnel at hospitals that don’t perform them.
It is happening already and has been for years. I know a 95 year old woman who needs a kidney transplant and they won’t give it to her. It is horrible. In 2002, I knew a man who was 88 who was turned down for a liver transplant. Our country is awful when it comes to the elderly.
I have always remembered this great article by Walter Williams . There is a shortage of organs because the price is kept at zero by law. Putting a floor on prices (price control) creates shortages. Proven over the centuries, time and time again. How well did Nixon/Carter price control over gas work out?
What a stupid comment - but then, again, it’s you!
we can't keep millions of 85 yros alive with one on one care/tube feedings/tpn/oxygen and breathing treatments/ etc....we can't afford heart transplants or VAD devices for everybody that needs it....
lets face....our longevity has not been taken into consideration in our society...
in other societies, people don't "retire" and start drawing pensions in their late 30's or 40's or 5O's all the while having paid for health care...in other countries, everyone contributes in some way, even if its just taking care of grandbabies in the home...
but not America...no, we have to give 50 yrs the right to act like their 90...they don't have to work, they don't have to worry about health care....and they get all the senior goodies....
we need to change the plan...
work longer....maybe work forever with lots of time off (like teachers0 and then maybe we can afford to have health care for everybody their entire lives...
Did they not give the woman a kidney transplant because of age or due to a high likelihood her body will reject it? Not everybody actually qualifies to remain on the cadaver list and you have to be “tested” once a year to prove you’re medically fit to receive an organ. It’s not some morbid conspiracy because sometimes a transplant just doesn’t make sense.
At the hospital where I am listed on the cadaver list, they won’t give me a kidney from someone over 60 years old. It just won’t function well enough for my body. They also have better matching for senior citizens because that age group will receive a kidney from a cadaver in that age group even though the lifespan is lower for those kidneys.
So, I am just curious about the reason why the person you know can’t get a transplant.
Good article and here’s one back at you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Scheper-Hughes
This mad woman is causing more harm than good on her mission. Just like Rachel Carson with Silent Spring and that lady who lead the charge against horse meat in America - emotionalism and a fundamental misunderstanding of markets and liberty - create misery.
Exactly - GIGO.
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