Combining recipient, donor blood can halt rejection process
BBC Aug 7, 08 2:57 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Scientists have found a technique that could eliminate the need for transplant patients to endure a regimen of powerful and side-effect-inducing anti-rejection drugs, the BBC reports. By mixing the patient's infection-fighting white blood cells with modified cells from the organ donor, the rejection process can be halted.
More »
Blacks more prone to kidney disease, get just 19% of transplants; many factors at play
Chicago Tribune Jul 8, 08 12:46 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Financial struggles and difficulty finding donors—as well as an unclear “transplant gap”—make African Americans less likely to get kidney transplants than whites, the Chicago Tribune reports. Many remain on dialysis, making daily life harder and increasing the risk of death. “You can explain most of the discrepancy, but you still have a gap that you can't explain,” says a doctor.
More »
Johns Hopkins' 13-hour 'domino' session goes off without a hitch
Baltimore Sun Apr 9, 08 1:23 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
In a procedure that took 13 hours and involved more than 100 medical personnel, Johns Hopkins Hospital pulled off the US' first six-way kidney transplant, the Baltimore Sun reports. Six donors provided six patients with working organs in Saturday's so-called "domino" procedure. All 12 were listed in good condition yesterday; some had even gone home.
More »
Men married same woman, committed suicide 12 years apart
Hilton Head Island Packet Apr 7, 08 4:16 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
A Georgia man who took his own life last week had lived 12 years after receiving a transplanted heart from a South Carolina man who also committed suicide, police said. And in a twist worthy of Edgar Allan Poe, the donor's widow had met and married the recipient, the Hilton Head Island Packet reports.
More »
Prosecution claims he killed for organs; others say technique to blame
New York Times Feb 27, 08 11:11 CST
(Newser)
-
Charges against a California surgeon for hastening the death of a disabled man so his organs could be harvested for transplants has advocates worried, the New York Times reports. At issue is whether Dr. Hootan Roozrokh ignored protocol in pursuit of organs for transplant or if he misused, or misunderstood, a less-often-used harvesting technique.
More »
Patient groups say 'presumed consent' is no consent at all
Daily Telegraph (UK) Jan 13, 08 7:46 PM CST
(Newser)
-
UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is backing an initiative to let hospitals harvest organs from dead patients without their consent, the Telegraph reports. The plan, which could take effect this year, presumes consent unless patients opt out or family members object. The goal is to help the 1,000 Britons who die every year for lack of an available organ.
More »
Flaw in tests allowed disease to go undetected
Chicago Tribune Nov 13, 07 1:07 PM CST
(Newser)
-
A flaw in HIV testing procedures led to the infection of four organ-transplant recipients in Chicago, the Tribune reports, the first such cases in more than 20 years. Follow-up tests were never performed, so the four are only now discovering their infections from the January transplants. The donor was flagged as high risk, but doctors decided the patients' need for organs outweighed HIV fears.
More »
Incompatible donor-
recipient pairs find matches in strangers
Wall Street Journal Oct 15, 07 1:28 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
One woman desperately needs a kidney transplant; her husband wants to donate but is incompatible. Across the country, the same scenario. But the healthy spouses match the unhealthy spouse in the other couple and make a reciprocated donation to a stranger. About 230 such swaps have taken place since 2000, reports the Journal, and there's hope that the practice might ease organ shortages.
More »
Organ sales are still legal in Pakistan; prices are as low as $1,700
Chicago Tribune Aug 26, 07 2:41 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
In the village of Sultanpur More, Pakistan, hundreds of people have long purple scars in their sides from selling their kidneys—for as little as $1,700—to pay off debts and to make dowry payments, the Chicago Tribune reports. There are only a few countries that don't prohibit organ sales, and business here has increased since China banned them last year.
More »
Organ-donation controversy erupts
Los Angeles Times Jul 31, 07 5:56 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
A San Francisco surgeon is facing unprecedented felony charges of accelerating the death of a 25-year-old disabled man to harvest his organs for transplant. The doctor denies the charges that he acted without a legitimate medical purpose, the LA Times reports, but the controversy is bad news for transplant doctors nationwide.
More »
Says it's the only way
to meet demand
Guardian (UK) Jul 17, 07 9:20 CDT
(Newser)
-
The UK's chief doctor is calling for everyone who doesn't specify otherwise to be automatically considered an organ donor. Sir Liam Donaldson says not only does the UK face a severe shortage of donated organs, as do other countries, but 70% say they want to donate and only 20% end up registering.
More »
Broadcaster draws praise for raising awareness of transplant-organ shortage
Guardian (UK) Jun 2, 07 10:48 CDT
(Newser)
-
A controversial Dutch reality show featuring a dying woman’s choice of a kidney recipient aired last night—and was revealed as a hoax. The "donor" was an actor; the contestants were real patients who were in on the prank. A producer said the goal was to call attention to the shortage of donor organs, adding, "We have succeeded in spades."
More »
Kidney donor, on deathbed, to select recipient on Dutch TV
BBC May 29, 07 7:46 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."
More »
Desperate tsunami survivors
sacrificing their kidneys, getting ripped off by doctors and dealers
Wired May 9, 07 10:58 CDT
(Newser)
-
Women impoverished by the catastrophic tsunami of 2004 are selling their kidneys on India's lucrative black market in ever increasing numbers. Wired reports on an international organ-donor scandal in which desperate donors are often ripped off by unscrupulous doctors and dealers who take the organs and keep the money.
More »
"They were waiting like vultures,"
the patient's sister said
Los Angeles Times Apr 12, 07 11:24 CDT
(Newser)
-
A 47-year-old man was wrongly declared brain dead by two doctors apparently eager to harvest his organs, reports the LA Times . "They were waiting like vultures, so they could scoop them up," says the patient’s daughter, Melanie Sanchez. A third doctor determined that her father, who had suffered a catastrophic brain hemorrhage, was not dead.
More »
New revision would make it easier to obtain organs
Washington Post Apr 4, 07 11:26 CDT
(Newser)
-
Doctors will be able to take organs from potential donors in more sticky situations, under revisions to state laws on the boards in more than 24 states. Model legislation that's already passed in four states clarifies how to handle ethically complex decisions, helping to alleviate the chronic shortage of kidneys and other organs, the Washington Post reports.
More »