Despite programs to encourage people to donate their organs for transplant, most state initiatives aren’t working to enlarge the pool of potential donors. Researchers writing in JAMA Internal Medicine earlier this month said the only thing that seems to work is when states create a fund to promote organ donations. According to the Organ Procurement […]
Recently, four organ transplant patients were infected with HIV and hepatitis–a rare occurrence. One of the patients claims, through her lawyer, that the risks of the procedure were not disclosed to her. A major issue here is that the kidney donor was considered “high risk” by the standards set by the Centers for Disease Control […]
For tens of thousands of patients anxiously awaiting lifesaving transplants, a new media investigation has provided what must be heart-breaking news on the laxity with which dozens of donated organs get transported, causing them to be lost or delayed “cargo” and rendered unusable. The nonprofit, independent Kaiser Health News Service and the Center for Investigative […]
In addition to their willingness to undergo a potentially risky invasive procedure for the benefit of someone else, living organ donors also are financially generous. Their out-of-pocket expenses average $5,000 because, although a recipient’s insurance covers the donor’s medical expenses, it doesn’t cover transportation, lodging, child care and lost wages. So there’s a movement to […]
Why were more than 2,600 kidneys recovered from deceased donors and discarded last year while 4,720 people in the U.S. died awaiting kidney transplants? According to a story last month in the New York Times, a significant number of discarded kidneys-maybe as many as half-could be transplanted if the system for allocating them was more […]
Clinicians drew in a postmortem conference a full portrait of patient K-0623, based on a detailed questionnaire and research they had conducted into his life. They learned all about the deceased’s happy childhood, his early high school graduation, and his athletic prowess, including his stardom in an elite collegiate football program. The neurologists, neuropsychologists, and […]
Tens of billions of dollars. Those sound like hefty sums. But will it ever be enough? Will, say, $50 billion offer justice and appropriate recompense to a nation wracked by an opioid and overdose crisis? These figures aren’t pulled from thin air. They’re part of the reported settlement under negotiations to resolve more than 2,300 […]
More than 37 million Americans who suffer from chronic kidney disease soon may see big changes in the way their disabling condition gets treated, potentially also reducing the $100 billion that the federal Medicare program pays for care of the body’s crucial blood cleaning organs. President Trump issued an executive order calling on the federal […]
Let’s give a hurrah for Maryland health officials — they threw a red flag at a high-tech startup that planned with the Baltimore Ravens football team to serve up a mass genetic screening test at a recent game. The blunt reality is this would have been genetic malarkey. This incident should serve as a reminder, caveat emptor, […]
Rarely does the law of supply and demand have a sadder application than in the world of organ donations, and the latest case of too much need and too few resources has states doing battle with each other. According to a story on TheHill.com, “A heated redistricting battle has gripped the nation’s heartland this fall, […]
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