Sunday, March 14, 2010

I agree, no is the answer

I know someone who needs a liver transplant. As far as I know he has no vices. He's an oldie, like me. Why shouldn't he get a liver transplant? He needs a whole liver so it would have to be from a deceased donor.

This is the first news report I could find.

WA Government will lend the $250k interest free to the family of Claire to pay for the surgery.

The loan.

This is on 60 Minutes now.

That the first transplant was performed was surprising, the chance of her returning to her addiction was 97%, according to the statistics.

Googling the name and liver brings up a link to a lefty looking site. Anyone saying she shouldn't have the second transplant is being shouted down by those who then say "Well, obese people, smokers, drinkers, diabetics, who basically have lifestyle diseases shouldn't be treated under the health care system". Another commenter on the lefty site suggested that, yes, she should be able to have a transplant, but she should go back to the end of the list and wait. The implication is that should she run out of time, it's just too bad.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK kae,
What do YOU think?

I'm really stumped by this situation,
on the one hand we should care for everyone regardless, but on the other hand we have this christian hang up of saving the lost sheep while leaving the flock for the wolves.

No win!

LouMac

kae said...

First I think no.

Then I think "What if she were my daughter?"

Then I go back to no. Not on the taxpayer dollar, and not a donor liver from a deceased donor, because there are other people waiting who won't crap on the donation by doing the wrong thing.

I'd be a terrible ethicist!

Anonymous said...

Precisely kae,

Hope never to have to make a decision like this.

But to be extremely brutal and pragmatic, why give her an other chance when someone more "deserving" is in line?

I'm not really concerned about money but the lack of organ supply.

LouMac

Hope you had a good weekend and ready for battle?

kae said...

Just writing a post about the weekend... I'll have it finished soon.

Anonymous said...

I am the recepiant of a liver transplant last December
If I did not have the transplant I would not now be writing this
I do not understand how she had the first transplant
In Queensland when you go in front of the panel of Doctors every area of your life is gone into in crucial detail everthing is explained re the op and after the op. Even if you a regular social drinker or smoker you cannot get on the list
I thank God every day for this gift , the dedication and support of the Doctors and support team in amazing ,it is not an easy process
If she loved her kids and family so much how could she disregard her first transplant so easily when thousands of people every year die waiting for organs and has she had enough drug rehab to prevent her from doing it again ??

Anonymous said...

quote
But to be extremely brutal and pragmatic, why give her an other chance when someone more "deserving" is in line?

unquote
sorry didnt realise your name was "God". Who the heck are you to sit in judgement and say someone else is more deserving. Would you know if they were a serial rapist that hasnt been caught yet? or whether they had murdered someone and not been caught? Everyone is deserving of a second chance. What has gone wrong with the system is that they - the medical profession - should be giving her every help possible to clean up her act and give her help. Noone chooses to ruin their life but once addicted it takes more than having a family etc to get you off. You have to have been there (like I have) to know this. It took me 10 years to clean up my act and it wasnt for want of trying. Addiction hits people in different ways. People waiting for liver transplants, why dont they ask their relatives to donate? you can donate a lobe of a liver to a loved one just like you can donate a kidney. It is not for us to judge other people. Who of you are perfect? Who drives a car? does that mean if you are in a car accident (your fault) you should not have a transplant if it would save your life, even if it is not your first accident? of course not .....many people do things on purpose, no addiction i.e. people who climb mountains and have to have fingers and toes amputated becuase of frostbite ... they are not addicts, they choose to do that ... yet they get treatment. No difference.

kae said...

Anonymous both of you, please give a name or a nickname...

Anonymous 1
Good luck! I hope my mechanic friend gets a transplant before it's too late.

Anonymous 2.
It may not be for us to judge other people, everyone deserves a "second chance", but she blew the "second chance", she got a liver which was donated by someone who died, and returned to her addiction. If she can't stop, and she's shown it, she really doesn't deserve a third chance.

There are strict ethical guidelines for the people who receive transplants, one of them is that they do everything they can to give the transplant a chance for success.

If she loved her kids and thought so much of them perhaps she'd have carried out her side of the bargain.

Addicts can't be helped unless they want to help themselves.

You know something, there are some people who are more "deserving" as you put it. They're the ones who are going to do the right thing and make the most of their second chance.

Your argument is pretty hysterical anyway.

Read the comments. It's a dilemma. She's already had her second chance. She's thrown it away.

People waiting for transplanted livers can't always have a partial donation. The person I know needs a whole liver, or I would have seen if I could donate for him... I asked him and when he told me he needed the whole liver I apologised and said that I might be needing it for a while longer.

Don't judge me or fellow posters, you don't know us, either. (Who is being judgemental?)

Anonymous said...

The girl under discussion here will receive (in Singapore) a partial liver transplant donated by her aunt, so she's not depriving anyone else of receiving a whole liver from a deceased donor (and the medics here ruled that out entirely - too many others doing the right things and yet dying while waiting). Even so, her chances are not good.

Like you, Kae, I'm was torn this way and that - until her aunt turned out to be a suitable donor. I wish her the best of luck with the slim chance that she now has.

Regards
Sandi

Anonymous said...

Interesting, isn't it, Kae, that the word "judgmental" is flung as if it were an insult. Many use the Bible quote (judge not lest ye be judged) out of context. The following line is "now, go and sin no more." If that ain't 'judgment,' I don't know what is. Most of what I was taught from the Bible was to TEACH me how to MAKE judgment calls, use the brain God gave me to its best purpose, and learn discernment, then teach others (like my children). NOT making "judgments" is wrong. And nearly impossible.

What most people mean is don't rain on their own little parade. Moral relativism, where there is no right or wrong. Piffle.

Any addict who has returned to their addiction AFTER the Gift they received is an idiot and we can do nothing more for them. Having many recovered addicts and alcoholics as friends, I know a bit about what this woman did and didn't do.

It ain't baseball. No one should get three strikes at a liver transplant (excepting, of course, where it isn't action by recipient that goes wrong). That's my opinion, with full knowledge that opinions are like armpits - everyone's got a couple, and sometimes they stink!