Northwestern Social Networks 101
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Additional Cost to Organ Transplants

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Additional Cost to Organ Transplants Empty Additional Cost to Organ Transplants

Post  Kevin Chu Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:18 am

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124355532423664661.html

Earlier in class we talked about kidney transplants, and the different sources from which to get them. Overseas sources have become hopeful options for those in need of an organ who are short on time. However, the hidden cost of this was somewhat mentioned in class. How was the organ attained? This article talks about the ethical cost of obtaining a kidney that may not have been obtained in the most ideal way. More specifically, the trip of a patient who obtained an kidney from an executed criminal in China. The models of kidney transplant we discussed pertained mostly to the US, where the sale of organs is illegal. The story concludes with calculations about how the sale of organs would help improve the number of organs available for donation, but open up options for exploitations. A comparison between harvesting organs from criminals and the payment for organs is made, and the author attempts to justify that the cost from the results in the Chinese system are worse than those in the proposed American system of organ sales.

Kevin Chu

Posts : 19
Join date : 2009-04-05

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Additional Cost to Organ Transplants Empty In fact, kidney exchanges NOT necessary

Post  KingTut Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:30 am

http://www.newsweek.com/id/178873
"
In that decade and a half, a new and brutal calculus has emerged: we now know that a kidney from a living donor will keep you alive twice as long as one taken from a cadaver. And thanks to powerful antirejection drugs, that donor no longer needs to be an immediate family member (welcome news to those who would rather not risk the health of a loved one). In fact, surgeons say that a growing number of organ transplants are occurring between complete strangers. And, they acknowledge, not all those exchanges are altruistic. "Organ selling has become a global problem," says Frank Delmonico, a surgery professor at Harvard Medical School and adviser to the WHO. "And it's likely to get much worse unless we confront the challenges of policing it."

If people don't need exact matches due to autoimmunosuppresive drugs, then the market greatly expands and in fact increases the incentive and payoff of each kidney supplier due to the simple economics of increased demand. A gigantic kidney exchange (like the one shown in Greys anatomy!) is in fact not necessary

By 2010 the waiting list for an organ is expected to reach 10 years and all this means is that more and more people will choose to sell their parts.

KingTut

Posts : 22
Join date : 2009-04-11

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