organ donor

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UK Pushes 'Opt-Out' Organ Donor Plan

Patient groups say 'presumed consent' is no consent at all

(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...

Organ Donor Gives HIV to 4 Chicago Patients

Flaw in tests allowed disease to go undetected

(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...

Kidney Swap Might Abate Organ Shortage

Incompatible donor- recipient pairs find matches in strangers

(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,...

Poor Pakistanis Sell Kidneys to Rich Foreigners

Organ sales are still legal in Pakistan; prices are as low as $1,700

(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...

Transplant Doc Accused of Quickening Patient's Death

Organ-donation controversy erupts

(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...

UK's Top Doc Calls for Organ Donation to Be Default Option

Says it's the only way to meet demand

(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...

Kidney Donor Reality Show Was a Hoax

Broadcaster draws praise for raising awareness of transplant-organ shortage

(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...

Medical Reality Show Raises Controversy

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

(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...

Kidney Sales Brisk On India's Black Market

Desperate tsunami survivors sacrificing their kidneys, getting ripped off by doctors and dealers

(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.

Docs Accused Of Hurrying Death To Harvest Organs

"They were waiting like vultures," the patient's sister said

(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...

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws
States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws

New revision would make it easier to obtain organs

(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...

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