Comments on: Sometimes, There’s a Match.

By: kurma

kurma — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:43:44 +0000

Everytime a family requests a donation for its loved one, I hope they realize that they need to do the same thing for others in the future and that they resolve to do so. Not only for that particular cause (marrow/organ), but for all other such donations.

Ideally, all families should do that, but if at least the affected families realize and make this resolution, that would be a huge increase in numbers (and sufficient). However, I don't have much hopes of this.

By: VC

VC — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 20:23:16 +0000

One way to increase the number of people “deemed matches” to go to the final step and be a doner, is by asking within your circle who got a match? If some one say yes..then we could motivate the person to do the right thing and BE A DONER. What other ideas do you’all have to change this situation?

By: WesternGhaat

WesternGhaat — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 13:41:38 +0000

got myself cheekswabbed over the weekend in Seattle….

By: DizzyDesiat a

DizzyDesiat a — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:33:24 +0000

Here are some things a government can do to encourage organ donation, without getting into the monetary aspects 1) Make organ donation the default situation in case of death (currently you have to register to say you are willing to donate your organs at death, instead we the government should mde it so that you have to register if you do not want your organs to be donated) 2) Ensure that anyone who donates will be given preference on a organ donation list 3) Ensure that the donor if provided insurance for heathcare for any complications that may occur as a result of donation. 4) This insurance should be provided by the beneficiary (or someone in place of the benificiary) 5) Ensure that donating will be a factor in reducing the insunace premium paid. (Or more importantly insurance companies should not be able to raise rates/ deny insurance based on a donor’s prior donation) 6) Ensure that donors can apply for short term disability for the time for donation. 7) Organs of criminals on death row should be harvested as a way to pay back society for their crimes (one of Larry Niven’s favorite ideas) Set up a comprehensive national database to keep track of donations and to prevent fraud and abuse. 9) Make the donation of two limbs a necessary requirement for legal immigration (I want to see if people will realy give up an arm and a leg for a greencard )

By: DizzyDesi

DizzyDesi — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 00:16:42 +0000

No government can afford to get a market solution for organ donation as it would mean reexamining too many holy cows: 1) Life is not priceless 2) Money will determine your health 3) No government can afford to provide everyone the best possible heathcare 4) We not have a way on how much our body belongs to us and how much it belongs to the government?

Some of the most contraversial topics in recent years have been related issues -- stem cell research, human cloning, abortion issues, when to pull the plug. Most politicians know that if they tackle any of this issues, they will loose a lot of votes, even if the majority feels their decision was correct. In an atmosphere where even giving away condoms is contraversial, do you see any govenment pushing for a market solution for organ donation?

By: Puliogre in da USA

Puliogre in da USA — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:09:52 +0000

Why cant I sell my organs? i mean…they are MY organs. Whast the use of “owning” something you cant sell.

By: praveen99

praveen99 — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:05:26 +0000

It’s unfortunate that no government (that I’m aware of) has yet devised a workable market solution for this problem. How to incentivize organ, marrow, and other donations without also encouraging organ theft, forcible “donation”, and at worst, murder? There’s got to be a way to devise such a program – until we do, there will continue to be a woeful under-supply of such products relative to demand, and that’s a tragedy.

By: Rahul

Rahul — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 06:54:29 +0000

Props to Meenu, and to the article for being honest about the experience!

By: DizzyDesi

DizzyDesi — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:48:35 +0000

"That's a sizeable chunk of people who are trying for the appearance of doing good, and when confronted with the reality of sacrifice, chickening out."

From my experience through signing up to be a donor and looking at the process -- this is mainly BS. I found a lot of things that made it a pain to follow through.

It takes years to get a call (if ever) and the call does not say you are a match, just a possible match. You do not get the sense of having made a difference the way you do in a blood drive.
The system is opaque,you do not get to know if the person you signed up for was tested in time with your sample.
The place where one volunteers is often nowhere close to where one is at the time of the call.
I could not make an appointment for during the weekend because they did not take appointments at the time (and I do not get any paid days off)
I needed to get a medical screening which was not provided for free at a place close to me (and I do not have insurance)
Ultimately what killed it for me was that - I kept leaving voicemails in the center which contacted me, but did not get any replies (it takes two to tango and when your partner is a faceless, slothful, bureaucracy, you lose interest)
I am still expressed to be in the registry and sent in the paperwork, although I have no idea what the center did with it.

When I put myself into the system, I was motivated to help someone I could put a face to. Unfortunately, I never got to know if I was even screened for a match. It is difficult to get motivated to go through a lot of effort to help a John Doe who you have no connection with. (Please spare me the nonsense that all humans are connected -- if that were so, you should be serving in Darfur right now, saving lives, instead of surfing the net.) Frankly I make a more valuable contribution, by donating plasma every 4 months and by sending money to my pet causes than by staying in the registry.

At the end of the day volunteers are made to sacrifice quite a bit while everyone else in the system -- the doctors,the nurses, the layers of clerks in the medical system, the hospitals, the so called not for profit organizations (Not for profit!= no decent salary) makes out like bandits. It is difficult to come away from it without getting the feeling that you were being suckered. 70% does not indicate that people are callous, 70% indicates that people are unable to look at a broken system critically and demand changes to it. (off the top of my head, I can think of half a dozen things that can be done to improve it-- from more intereaction, regular correspendance, treating it like jury duty legally, etc) The system has to have more incentives and should far ,far, far, more responsive than what it is now for it to work.

By: chick pea

chick pea — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:00:41 +0000

i think the bottom line is getting the word out.. and getting the community to be more aware.. this is a fantastic article vinod.. thank you for sharing..

it just takes that one match to save a life..

crossing fingers tightly. and praying.