Local Transplant Centers Offering Imperfect Organs
It seems that certain transplant centers are offering less than perfect organs as an alternative to waiting up to 6 years for a new organ. I believe they are dealing solely with kidneys right now. Let me give you details. 33 volunteers have chosen to get organs from people over 50y/o or that had certain risk factors to thier kidneys.
The key here is, these people would have to go on dialysis if they didn't have the operation. I think this is in general a good idea. Similarly, I always wondered why AIDs patients aren't all taking the safe experimental treatments if it means that they will live. There are certainly plenty to go around. Of course it's a risk to the patients, but less of a risk than certain death.
On the other hand, I'm not sure this is a great step forward for society. The credo of all medical doctors is, "First, do no harm". This is a bit of a stretch in that area. The reason they didn't use those organs in the first place is because they are a bit of a risk. Of course this is also why people aren't taking tons of experimental medicine as well. I guess thats a good thing what with mutating viruses and such.
I hope this helps those 33 volunteers and eventually helps more. I just hope they take extra care when dealing with those less than perfect organs.
TheBostonChannel.com - News Archive - Local Transplant Centers Offering Imperfect Organs
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