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Medical Reality Show Raises Controversy

Kidney donor, on deathbed, to select recipient on Dutch TV

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted May 29, 2007 7:46 AM CDT

(Newser) – The brains behind "Big Brother" are branching out into medicine and stirring up serious controversy in the process. "The Big Donor Show," set to air on Dutch TV Friday, follows a terminally ill woman as she chooses among three contestants vying for one of her kidneys. One doctor tells the BBC the program is "ethically totally unacceptable."

The donor, a 37-year-old known only as Lisa, will receive advice from viewers by text message. The production company, Endemol, argues that the show will promote organ donation, and the chairman of the station that will air the program said the channel is "acting in a shocking way to bring attention to this problem."

[Images (4)]

[Videos (1)]

Inside The ICU (Getty Images)

US NEWS MED-ORGANS NY (KRT Photos)

Erin Herrin's kidney is removed for transplanting into her daughter, Maliyah, Tuesday, April 3, 2007, at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City. The five-year-old was separated from her conjoined... (Associated Press)

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Medical Reality Show Raises Controversy