You may be asking yourself how this affects you. It affects you in regards to where your tax dollars are being spent. Instead of education, lowering unemployment or drug abuse counseling your tax dollars are being used to treat patients waiting for an organ donation. Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) cost Medicare $70 billion annually. No longer needing to be on dialysis, one kidney transplant could save $288,000. (medicare-medicaid.com). How else does organ donation affect you? Every 11 minutes another name is added to the transplant waiting list (organdonor.gov). It could be you, a loved one or a friend.
The transplant waiting list has doubled in the last 10 years. (health.discovery.com) With the waiting list doubling if the number of people registering as an organ donor does not increase the waiting time is going to increase. Fortunately a person waiting for a kidney has dialysis to sustain life and lead a semi ‘normal’ life but what choice does a person waiting for a new heart or liver have? Their choice is live life in a hospital bed waiting for that life saving organ which may not come in time. Depending on the organ, a person can wait on average 113 to 1,219 days (organdonor.gov)
It is important to speak to your family about your wishes. Even if you have registered as a donor in some states, California included, if your family does not give consent your organs will not be retrieved. The video below shows an example of such a scenario.
As a living donor myself I know firsthand the wonderful feeling of donating. While it was a difficult decision at first, I later came to realize my sister’s health was more important than my fear of surgery. Being a donor has even lead to a healthier lifestyle. To donate I needed to lose 50lbs. Pre-transplant I was at risk of diabetes due to being overweight. Now my risk of diabetes has decreased. I now make sure to eat healthier, exercise and drink less alcohol knowing that I need to take care of myself. The surgery and recovery was painful but seeing my sister healthy and now married with a baby on the way made the transplant worth every bit of pain.
Facts and Figures About Organ Donation (2011) February 9, 2011 from,
http://health.discovery.com/convergence/giftoflife/facts/facts.html
Kidney Patients - Better Care at Less Cost, (2009) February 9, 2011 from,
http://medicare-medicaid.com/index.php?s=dialysis
Organ Transplantation: The Process (2011) February 9, 2011 from,
http://organdonor.gov/organTransplantationProcess.asp#process1
The Need is Real: Data (2011) February 9, 2011 from,
http://organdonor.gov/aboutStatsFacts.asp
http://health.discovery.com/convergence/giftoflife/facts/facts.html
Kidney Patients - Better Care at Less Cost, (2009) February 9, 2011 from,
http://medicare-medicaid.com/index.php?s=dialysis
Organ Transplantation: The Process (2011) February 9, 2011 from,
http://organdonor.gov/organTransplantationProcess.asp#process1
The Need is Real: Data (2011) February 9, 2011 from,
http://organdonor.gov/aboutStatsFacts.asp
“The mission of Organ Transplant Initiative (OTI) is to ensure that anyone who needs a transplant can get one.
ReplyDeleteWe will accomplish this mission by influencing key decision makers, opinion leaders, the media and the public to take positive action on issues affecting organ donation and transplantation including research and development of organ regeneration and mechanical replacement.”
Good job on this blog. I do agree that donating organs is thought about more now then say 30 years ago. My niece, the host of this blog did a wonderful thing for her sister, my niece. I still have reservations of the goolish practice and the many poachers out there. Its a noble thing to volunteer organs, but so disrespectful to harvest. Still on the fence for random donation.
ReplyDelete@ Indain T.v serials I will make sure to look to OTI for information in future postings. Thank you for the comment.
ReplyDelete@ Anonymous harvesting donations is an interesting idea for my next blog. Random donation would be a good topic to look at. Discussing when donation is not voluntary. Thanks for the idea.
I was reading this Associated press article today and was wondering what you think about it...is it a dangerous precedence or should it be treated as other non-organ donations. Below is one of the article websites and the Organization that brought the suit. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/feb/15/suit-challenges-ban-on-paying-bone-marrow-donors/
ReplyDeletehttp://moremarrowdonors.org/
I really enjoyed this blog because it helps to show everyone the importance of being an organ doner. I was not aware of the large amount of money being spent on people who were waiting for organ donations. I believe that it is important to become a donor because it can help to save many lives, and I am really impressed at how you were able to get that point across!
ReplyDeleteReally, I found very great information here. India has become a major global center for medical tourism, with over 2 lakh people visiting the country each year with the primary objective of getting medical procedures done.
ReplyDeleteMedical tourism India