And now the fallout begins. I'm going to ignore the business side of the fallout and the questions of who was running the company and why weren't the people who think they are in charge made aware of Jobs' health plans.The fallout I want to discuss hit page 5 of my local paper today and I am sure will be on the front page of other papers.
Was he worthy of the transplant? Did his money in any way influence when he received the transplant? How many different lists was he on?
Did you realize that 102,139 Americans on on a waiting list for an organ as of today? I can't even wrap my mind around a number that large. Apparently, you must be able to travel to the center within 8 hours to be on their list. And, you must be able to afford to go there to be evaluated initially as well. That would place Jobs and other wealthy Americans at an advantage over other people since they can afford private jets and other transportation fees. No one is reporting yet whether Jobs was on more than one list.And now there is discussion of making it illegal for a patient to be on more than one list.
Really America? This is the best response you can give to this problem?As I am sure you all know, we have an opt-in organ donation program in our country. You must make your wishes clearly known to someone or sign the back of your driver's license in some states to be an organ donor. At least 8 countries do just the opposite - you must opt-out of organ donation. Of course you don't have to be an organ donor. But, they assume you are unless you take the time to check the box. We all know that very few people take the time to check any box. Therefore, opt-in countries have a very small percentage of people who are willing to be organ donors and opt-out have a much larger percentage.
This is not a new debate. Countries have been discussing this for years. But, isn't this the debate we should be having instead of debating whether Jobs deserved his transplant or somehow manipulated the system? Wouldn't you manipulate the system if you were dying and the system was as broken as ours?How much money did our government recently spend to educate us on our television going digital? And to provide converters? And to send people door to door to make sure we could all continue to get our American Idol fix? What if we had taken that amount to educate people on opting out of organ donation instead of opting in? How many lives might we have saved?
Seems like our country used to lead the way in what we felt was right. I would think that providing a possibility of life to the hundreds of thousands of Americans waiting years and years for a transplant would certainly be the right thing to do. I would love to hear our government representatives take up this campaign instead of voting on national canned soup day or some other atrocity.I am thrilled that Steve Jobs was able to receive a liver transplant. I wish him the best of success with it and a long and happy life. And I am hoping that his story might help us to help those other 102,075 people to receive their transplants as well.
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116 comments:
Our government is not willing to force anyone to do anything. I think this could be called socialism or communism?? But, I agree that I prefer the opt out system. I am concerned when I die that my organs will not be used.
I also feel horrible for the mentally ill who need their medicine, but we of course can not force them. Nor are we willing to spend any $$$ on the mentally ill for their government hospitals.
How about folks who continue to pop babies even after all of their current children are taken by the state due to child neglect/abuse. Then, the new baby has to first be abused before we also take that baby. Can't we sterilize them??? I am not being flip when I ask that.
I've made my wishes known that I want to be an organ donor.
I had no idea there were opt-out countries.
We never even HEAR about being an organ donor until we get a driver's license in this country.
Yeah, things need to change.
Love this post - you make excellent points.
Amazing what money can buy, isn't it...
I'm an organ donor. I gave one of my kidney's to my husband. He was a juvenile diabetic. They wouldn't even let him on a list because he was 49, a diabetic and had already had heart by pass surgery. The only way he could get a kidney is he had a live donor. That was me, I matched 3 out of the 5 criteria. That was 5 years ago March 1st. We are blessed. I was told that if people would just check the box on their Drivers licence that there would be no one on a waiting list. I'm still an organ donor. I like the saying, Don't take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here!!!!
If I didn't work in the medical field I might think differently, but I have seen older men, with past substance abuse problems(that used to be a big No No for the "use" of a donated liver)who are on Medicaid, totally indigent, get new livers. Sometimes, honestly, it is being in the right place at the right time, thru luck, not money.
I never knew about the opt-in policy. I remember the bruhaha when Larry Hagman (of Dallas show) got one.
I worked on a kidney floor at the start of my nursing career. We did perform kidney transplants at that hospital and it was my job to get the transplants ready prior to surgery and care for them afterwards.
We had one teenaged boy who received no less than 3 kidneys [I kid not]. He received one from a random deceased donor the first time...refused to take his anti-rejection meds...lost it. Then his mother donated a kidney. Same thing. He lost it too. [You'd think they'd learn their lesson.]
Oh, and did I mention he was addicted to Vicoden and would crush his tablets up and snort them?
Finally, his dad gave him a kidney. Yea, he lost it too. Then he passed away. I think he was 18.
You'd be surprised how many patients are JUST LIKE this teenager and refuse to eat correctly or take their massive amounts of pills.
After working with transplants for almost 5 years, I guess my perspective is slightly different than most.
XOXO
I'm an organ donor - so are the rest of my family members. Can't imagine why we wouldn't be?!
Yes, yes, yes! On all counts. First of all, let me say that I fear signing up online as a donor (I did have the pink dot on my DL but then they changed it) because I'm afraid organized crime will steal the records and arrange to have me killed to save some rich guy like Steve Jobs. An 'opt out' policy would be much better, then we'd have more donors and I wouldn't stand out. As for healthcare, I think it's reasonable for society to provide baseline health care, like vaccinations, and for kids even more comprehensive care. But do I believe that every adult alive automatically has the right to a triple bypass at taxpayer expense? No, I don't. I'm with you that if Steve Jobs used his well-earned money to speed up the process, good for him.
I just moved to Maryland and now that you say it no one asked me if I wanted to be an organ donor. I used to live in Colorado where it was on your license and you sign the back. I will have to make sure my hubby knows my wishes!
Oh My Goodness....I just came here from Domestically Challenged, I believe. Doing a little blog hopping today and I must say, I did not know that there were opt out countries. I know that I have opted in. There is no reason for me NOT to opt in. What am I going to need with my physical body once I have passed?
I've opted in on my license. Once I'm gone I hope I can help someone else.
i like the idea of having to opt-out. i also think we should have to pay a fine if we don't vote in this country.
i love the 'recycle yourself' image!
i def know that i want to donate my organs and i would my children's too in the unfortunate case of their passing.
great post!
What a great point--we spent a ton of money educating people about TV going digital....but we've got SO far to go with health care in this country. Our priorities as a nation are so screwed up!! (At least the priorities in your little corner of the world at Suburb Sanity are as they should be!)
Great post (it will go in my best of the week roundup). My father died at age 44 while awaiting a heart transplant, so this issue hits very close to home for me. Thanks for writing about this.
I have never thought of this debate this way. I never knew that other countries had to opt-our rather then in. I completely agree we should have to sign or check to opt-out so many people would live!
Thank you for stopping by my site!
I am an organ donor, and all of my family knows my wishes. I hadn't heard of the opt-out concept but, Debbie, it's brilliant. I am certain that folks who felt strongly about not having their organs donated would make it a priority to check the box.
I had an acquaintance (more like I knew of her) in college who died unexpectedly in a car accident and her wishes were not made clear. The organs were not usable by the time all of the mumbo-jumbo was sorted through.
Nice post, Debbie. I hope everyone takes a few minutes to make their wishes known.
Oh man that is so true! They watned us about the TV switch, I mean just inundated us!!!! Still I had no idea about all these organ donation facts. Great post. PS I'm a donor!
I'm with you! I have my box checked and have made my family aware of my choice, they feel the same way. I feel that if I am gone, there is no reason that others can't use those organs.
When you put it like that there is no reason why we should not all be donors. (obviously except those with diseases etc).
As Bob the Builder says, "reduce, REUSE, RECYCLE!"
This post was fantastic. WE all need to think about this kind of stuff more often. With as many kids as I have with Special needs and health problems, you can imagine the time I have spent in the children's hospital. I have made many friends of kids on "lists." I have seen many go home without the organ we they were praying for to die. I have only seen TWO ever get what they needed.
It's heartbreaking to me. I can assure you that if any of these little ones of mine pass away, that every possible thing that I can gift to save another, i will not only is it saving a child, it's preventing a parent from going through the agony of losing a child as well.
Thank you again for sharing this. I love your blog.
A thought provoking post. I'm in. I would like ot know that someone is benefitting in some way.
Great post. I am an organ donor and definitely think the "opt out" program is the way to go.
My husband and I are both organ donors. It seems so ridiculous not to!!! I won't need them!
Very interesting! Having an autoimmune disorder, I don't know if I have anything usable, but I'm not opposed to it (organ donation). I'll have to look into that.
You have such a common-sense approach to things that I LOVE. (And yes: I'm an organ donor.)
Great post! I'm a nurse and we get lots of patients waiting for liver transplants on our ward. We watch most of them die waiting. We get attached to these patients as they wait and hope and get sicker. We wait and hope with them. It is a terrible thing when the day comes (as it does for most) that they have to be removed from the transplant list because they are too sick to recover from major surgery. And usually, by the time they are removed, they are at or near the top of the list for our province, so the hope is high, and is a very hard place to fall from. Suddenly, we have to turn our care from keeping them well enough for surgery and hoping with them, to watching them die within days... usually men, usually with teenage kids, often with liver failure related to hepatitis rather than alcoholism.
Yes, get on the organ donor list. And be good to your liver, most people on waiting lists die waiting.
You are SO right about that!
Excellent post. I knew that the proverbial "other shoe" was going to drop once the news came out. People still remember the whole Mickey Mantle transplant controversy.
The system is broken and there will always be suspicions raised as long as it continues to be.
Thank you for this. My husband, Beaux, is waiting for a liver, which means our little girls and I are waiting as well. We don't want to inconvenience anyone. But if you're done with it, why let it -- let him and others like him -- go to waste?
What a great topic. I agree, the government spent way too much trying to make sure that everyone's TV worked after the switch. Let me start out by saying I aint impressed with anyone in office these days. Especially close to home. And I am totally against being forced to do things I don't want to do. However I have to ask why is the government having to force us to do things that we should do volentarily? Obviously no one was doing them in the first place.
Great post.
I'm a donor! I don't get why anyone wouldn't want to be.
Love you blog and posts!
Have a great weekend :)
After pawing through the data on the OPTN website, two thing occurred to me:
1) That gap is growing in part because medicine is keeping more people alive longer -- Less people are dying while more are added to the list. Keeping people alive longer is probably a good thing.
2) Although it won't help those already on the list, early education about the perils of high blood pressure, hepatitis, and alcoholism would probably be easier, less costly, less traumatic, and more effective than an army of organ donors. It would shrink that frightening list to levels we could manage with our current donor pool. At least, that's what their data indicates.
I'm still an OD anyway. Yet I pity the fool that gets the liver from my corpse. "Hey, you said this liver was gently used. It still smells like the Sterno and lighter fluid the donor was drinking when he died!"
Good post, I'm sure you gave many people things to thing about today. BTW I'm a donor.
wow. That was seriously the most well written article I've ever read on this topic! You're awesome. And I wish we could have these discussions on other issues as well, where we work to solve the problem instead of just bitching about how wrong everything is!
Thanks!!
I once worked with a gal who refused to be an organ donor. She said you had to be "complete" in order to go to heaven. Try telling that to someone who lost a body part or two in a war or car accident. Her "logic" blew my mind.
Being an organ donor is one of the greatest gifts you can give in this life. Period.
So, I have a couple of friends who are nurses, and neither of them are organ donors. Weird, huh? They both said that they have seen the way that the organ donation team bullies families when a loved one dies, etc., and they have seen too much negativity.
I will still be a donor though.
And people who don't think money can buy anything, are delusional.
Excellent post! I know that some people object to organ donation for "religious reasons," but I would venture to guess that they encompass an extremely small percentage of the population. Other than that, seriously, why NOT donate organs??
Kevin had a friend who died very young. It hit us all hard, but we were glad that someone was able to recieve something good out of the tragedy. (We also joked that if they could use D's organs, they could use anyone's. He drank. a lot.) : )
The opt in system would be perfect. The people who want to donate will make sure they do. The people who don't want to donate will make sure they opt out. And most idiots who don't read paperwork anyway will be added to the list and there will be more organs available for use.
It is ridiculous how many good organs go to waste around the country for lack of a decent system
Hmm...a well written post!! (Sorry...it's only 1:30 and my brain's already fried - Organ Donor Policy is past my mental capacity right now.)
But I'm glad ONE person was saved!
I am proudly an organ donor and have been since I was first allowed to "opt-in." I have that same view: I'm dead. Take 'em if they'll help you out.
I'm with you sistah!!!
UCLA in my neighborhood is under investigation for the same thing. Some rich criminal from another country was "hooked up" with a new organ after a six figure donation to the hospital. It's shamefull
GREAT POST! Thanks for raising awareness on this important issue!
I hope when I die that I do it in a way that allows my organs to be used. I'd love to know that I helped someone else. I'm an official organ donor per my driver's license and I've made my wishes clear to my husband. It's sad that many people are willing to receive but few think to donate.
Organ Transplants are one of things that most people know nothing about until it hit someone they love. For years I've been working with a nursing society that specializes in transplants and last year one of our dear friends received a liver donation from a living donor. Thankfully he is doing very well but there are SO many stories out there that go untold. I hope Steve Jobs’ fame brings more needed attention to this cause.
I am not sure why people do not want to donate their organs. Really, you just want a good organ to go to waste in the ground?
I have opted in - with a caveat - if anyone in my family is on a transplant list, they are to receive my organ(s) first - head of the class, as it were.
Thanks for creating some much needed awareness around this important subject.
And parents - as sad and unimaginable as it may seem, you are your children's spokeperson in the event of an unspeakable accident.
thanks for stopping by my blog. i enjoyed your post. hubby and i are both listed as donors on our licenses and in our Wills. i wonder what will happen to Michael Jackson's organs? too morbid to think about. have a wonderful weekend and take care.
-Kiki
Very well put.
Great post!
Your comment: "Did you realize that 102,075 Americans on on a waiting list for a liver as of today? I can't even wrap my mind around a number that large. And that is just for a liver." This is wrong. As of 6/19/09, there are 101,981 candidates on the organ transplant waitlist. 15,766 of those are waiting for livers.
I feel silly. I had no idea who Steve Jobs was before this post.
My hubby and I both checked organ donors on our licenses. I think the opt-out program would be such a great idea for this country.
Makes such perfect sense it's hard to imagine why it hasn't been done.
You are so very right!
You are right on target! That is very disheartening to think that all those other people have to sit and wait because they don't have the right connections or bankbook.
Thank you for such a great post. I need to check and make sure I am a donor. This was a wonderful and positive reminder.
I appreciate the things you write about! Funny or serious, I always enjoy!
Hope you have a terrific weekend! We're in the triple digits here, so I'm pretty much staying indoors!
"And I am hoping that his story might help us to help those other 102,075 people to receive their transplants as well."
Wouldn't that be great, but I'm not holding my breath. Much easier to speculate on something stupid than deal with the significant issue it poses. Put your article next to the one with the statistics and which one you think most people will read? How did we get there?
Thank you for this most poignant post.
Great post and very eye-opening. Honestly, I would like to help someone else once I've moved on, but for some reason I haven't just made the decision to check that little box on my license. As if I will actually feel anything when they "harvest" my organs.
And I'd never heard of the opt-out policy before! Thanks for informing us.
Amen dear. Count me in, and all my relative that I have any say over.
What a great post. I agree with every point you made! I've known about your blog forever - what took me so long to get here and read it? I'll definitely be back.
This was a great post and I was delighted to read it. I have recently been tracking the
Race Across America and
Team Donate Life blogs as they have been cycling across the country (from CA to MD) to raise tissue and organ donation awareness.
Until you mentioned it, I had never thought about the money we use to raise awareness for some of these other things like watching TV and cable, and yet we will throw nickles and dimes toward something far more important such as a human life. As some of your readers said: It is sad to see that we have our priorities mixed up.
Thanks for your wonderful post.
:-)
From what I'm reading on the business blogs, he paid more for a house in Memphis near the medical center than he did for the organ. Wow.
We have opt-in here in Sweden...
I definitely want to donate my organs.. after all, I'm not going to be using them once I'm dead!
Very true. Well said!
I have always been an organ donor. This is such a hard issue.
i'm all for an opt-out system. i have never understood why someone would not want to donate their organs. what exactly are you planning on doing with them while you slowly rot in a box 8 feet under? why not help someone else out. government spending is out of control in every area. it needs to be totally reworked, but no one is willing to do it b/c they all have stake in it. they all have money being spent for something that they supported/proposed etc. it's all politics and right now they all care more about which dog the president is getting or which fly he's swatting to concentrate on the people that need REAL help.
ok, sorry for the rant, i didn't realize it would turn into that lol. :D have a nice day
oh and i'm from sits.
This is a fascinating perspective... I like how you tied in the governments misuse of funds when they could be going to so much more WORTHY causes!!!
Just goes to show, we need to have trust in faith in out Savior to truly have 'comfort' in this world. Even though money can bu us stuff (even living organism stuff) our true joy and LIFE comes from faith in OUr Creator.
Great post!
God bless-
Amanda
Stopping in from SITS. Great post. I've opted in, and was not aware that in other countries you could opt out.. That's a wonderful idea. It's such a shame that the US doesn't do that.. think of all the lives that could be saved.
Wow, I think we should be looking first into liver illness prevention.
You have made such an excellent observation and in doing so have increased awareness, thank-you for that. TV conversion VS organ donation, brilliant!
Wow - I didn't knwo this! Thanks for stopping by my blog today!
Love this blog entry.
There is a saying "Money can't buy everything". But there are some things in life, like in this case life itself, that will make one think if one should believe that saying.
Dropping by from SITS! And thanks for dropping by my blog.
I did hear about this controversy, but I've not kept up with a lot of news lately while my dad is visiting here.
Years ago, friends of ours lost their three year old daughter in a car accident. We were with them at the hospital when they made the agonizing decision to take her off life support (she was confirmed brain dead) and then they had the strength to donate her organs. She helped six other people. Those friends are still my heroes today. If they had the courage to donate their precious child's organs, then we can certainly have the courage to donate our own if they can be used to help others.
Enjoy your weekend!
:-)
my dad received a life changing (literally) heart transplant in the 80's. my entire family are donors now. It is such a gift.
Our friend's 12 yo daughter had a liver transplant when a girl similar in height and build, died in a car accident. It was a very emotional event and lifesaving at the same time.
Hi!
I think you have a nice blog, beatiful photos and smart posts.Would you follow me, because I don't want to lost your blog.I’m wating your visit.
kisses
I'm happy for Steve Jobs too. I think we all should be organ donors. It's not like we will need those organs when we are dead. Right? Might as well save someone life's with your healthy body parts. Thanks for this interesting and inspiring post Debbie! Well said.
Hi from SITS! Well said! Love this post. My husband and I were just talking about this the other day, and although it hasn't been stated, we are 100% sure he paid for that liver. Very sad world we live in...
I couldn't agree MORE with you on any of the points in this post. You hit it right on the head.
And I wonder what other possible recipients were passed up for this liver. I really do wonder that. Glad he got his liver...I just wonder if it was truly fair. (The list I mean.)
Amen.
Plus, I LOVE Steve Jobs. Or at least, I love his ideas. We are huge Apple fans at our house. My husband won't even allow a single microsoft product to cross the threshold.
p.s. I used to feel like such a radical by religiously checking the organ donor box every time I renewed my license.
Debbie, I love how you choose such important, thought provoking subjects for your posts, and can still make them "easily digestible". The mark of a really good writer!
And, I've been an organ donor since I got my license at 16. I figure it's not my problem what happens to it after I die - I just don't want to selfishly take it to my grave. I won't need it where I'm going. ;)
Proud organ donor here, for a good 20 years. Thank you for a very well written, thought provoking post that makes the compelling argument: You can't take it with you!
I've noticed that when I'm renewing my license, no one even points out the donor thing to me. If I weren't paying attention, I'd never FLIP THE PAPER OVER to that section...
sigh...
I couldn't agree more.
I don't need my organs...and I really don't understand why others wouldn't donate theirs.
I am soooo with you on this! I've been an organ donor for years by opting in. I like the opt-out version though...we would have so many more donors! And I thought of many things those TV conversion dollars could have been spent on...
Tell it, sister! I've got the official Organ Donor designation on my drivers license. :)
wow that's an insane amount of people waiting! maybe one day our country will get its priorities in order!
Linky love fer ya at Gumbo Writer's today, Oh Wise One.
They can have whatever they want from this body and then burn the rest and spread my ashes in my favorite places.
I'd do a "live" donation of something if I was in the position to do so - at least I hope that's what I'd do - I feel as if I would
:)
I love the point that you make about the amount of money spent repeatedly telling people that we're going digital. But, we can't do better on organ donation?
Excellent post.
I'm proud to be an organ donor.
I am amazed that I hadn't heard about this. YOu are always posting such relevant and interesting stuff. I love this blog!
I, personally, plan on donating my organs. I don't need them.
I always agree with you. What a nice platform for a Miss America or a future presidential candidate. I didn't know about opt-out countries. It makes no sense that all are not that way.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately... I had no idea that other countries required you to claim that you *don't* to donate your organs...
I love the recycle sign! I need that one! :) All of my family are organ donors, although hubs has reservations that someone might off him just for his organs - lol.
I'm an organ donor too, but I doubt they will want my organs because I have diabetes. But I figure weak eyes are better than no eyes, and they could have all the skin they want. Some hospitals don't even ask, when you have a relative dying, if you want to donate any organs.
Love the recycle yourself image. Takes goin-green to a new level.
It's on my license, but I figure the market for my organs is shrinking with every birthday that passes.
Awesome post!!! I have two friends that have received organ transplants, one a kidney and the other a double lungs. I never heard of the opt-out program other countries have...it would be great if we had it.
**How much money did our government recently spend to educate us on our television going digital? **
You nailed it in this paragraph. The money spent on this little project alone (including sending FCC reps around the country to give personal instruction! Geez) could have gone to something WAY more important.
I would love to see our country go to 'opt out'. Why not? If you have a strong belief about not sharing your organs once you are gone then you will certainly make sure to check that box.
With 'opt in' people have good intentions but don't always talk about it to others or mark it on their DL & those good intentions just go down the drain...or rather in the ground, cremated, etc... Such a waste.
Wow! I'm flabbergasted...and almost speechless....
Good for Steve. I wish him the best of health and a speedy recovery. As an organ donor myself, I agree that our country should spend a little of that tv budget or something else just as ridiculous on educating people about something much more important.
Again, you said it. Our health care is in dire need of a restructure, as well as our school systems. until then? It will never be fair.
Well said.
Have a great day.
Sandra
Awesome post! I wish more people understood the importance of donation and the real issues that need to be addressed so that people do not die needlessly every day because there are simply not enough organs available. Thank you for your help in educating people with the facts!
Dave
If you're going to donate your organs, why not donate them to other organ donors? If you do, they'll return the favor. This will increase your chances of getting a transplant if you ever need one.
Check out LifeSharers at www.lifesharers.org. It's free. it could save your life.
THIS IS A GREAT POST! Send it to the president or something!!!
Here is the 109 comment: Good job bringing up serious issues.
this is such a thoughtful and true post. it was absolutely ridiculous how much govt money was spent on digital tv when there are real people suffering everywhere. priorities!
A-freaking-men. I signed the back of my license, and when I renew it, I'll do it again. I hope others do the same.
i'm an organ donor :) great post by the way. very informative.
A very powerful post!
I myself am an organ donor and have made my wishes very clear to my family and my physician.
I do believe that our government is somewhat "soft". I think an opt-out system would be much better.
The story of Job's liver transplant does remind me of the old saying: Money can't buy you happiness. Ok, so it can't buy happiness, but it can buy you health and with health you can live long enough to achieve that happiness.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Our country is so backwards at times. I am so sick & tired of "money talks."
stopping by from sits.
Not only is organ donation after we're dead so logical I can't imagine why anyone wouhttp://lifesharers.blogspot.com/2007/07/kidney-donation-chain.htmlld opt out, but check this out.
I only found out about it because I was looking into being a doner for someone I love. Can you imagine doing this simply because you can?
I hope I'm able to donate my organs . I hope I go quick and painless. My mother has pancreatic cancer and is 3 years post-op and now in the final stages of life. My heart goes out to all the families that wait a survival plan ;) jtrophy at aol dot com . thanks for stopping by my blog too . www.icoulduseadeal.blogspot.com
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