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Why have to redistribute donated organs at all. In an ideal world medical research wouldn't be impeded by a religious agenda. Think about how much research coul

by yardie 16y ago

Why have to redistribute donated organs at all. In an ideal world medical research wouldn't be impeded by a religious agenda. Think about how much research could have been accomplished if there wasn't an effective ban against stem-cell research? How many lives are lost because organ donation is double opt-in? You have to agree to it before death and your next of kin has to agree after your death. And how could preventive medicine allow people to diagnose a problem before organs were lost. Steve has the money to see the problem and take effective countermeasures. A lot of people don't and the way the current government is carrying on you would think some don't want the help.

jacquesm 16y ago
That's a very US centric view of things. It's funny my original comment must have been modded down several times and then modded back up again, it's almost as though there is some misinterpretation going on there. If you disagree with it feel free to speak out :) The idea behind it is a simple one: If rich people can use their money to 'jump the line' and buy the organs of poorer people that have died but left with a donor-codicil in their name then it would be good to limit the distribution of those organs to people that are roughly in the same income bracket. By doing that there would be a drive for people that are wealthy to encourage research that would relieve the need for donor organs or there would be a push to reduce the income disparity so there would be more people available in the higher income brackets that could serve as donors. Both would be beneficial in the long run. Having the rich be overrepresented as the consumers of donated organs and under represented as the donors (in absolute terms) is not good for society at all.
- yardie 16y ago
  That's a very US centric view of things. It's about a rich man in the US. If he was in another country than this would be a different conversation. Organ transplant is already hard enough, adding another layer doesn't improve anything. Jobs didn't jump the line, just found a shorter one. Since organ transplants are compatibility and location dependent wouldn't you also attempt to find where you had the best chance at advancing in the list and having a better match. It would make an interesting table if you could display organ phenotypes correlated by location. Maybe that is exactly what he has done that made him decide that Tennessee was the best place to be.
  - ghaff 16y ago
    Liver is just by blood type. The main thing is that different regions of the country have longer or shorter waiting lists.
deleted 16y ago
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by yardie 16y ago

jacquesm 16y ago

That's a very US centric view of things. It's funny my original comment must have been modded down several times and then modded back up again, it's almost as though there is some misinterpretation going on there. If you disagree with it feel free to speak out :) The idea behind it is a simple one: If rich people can use their money to 'jump the line' and buy the organs of poorer people that have died but left with a donor-codicil in their name then it would be good to limit the distribution of those organs to people that are roughly in the same income bracket. By doing that there would be a drive for people that are wealthy to encourage research that would relieve the need for donor organs or there would be a push to reduce the income disparity so there would be more people available in the higher income brackets that could serve as donors. Both would be beneficial in the long run. Having the rich be overrepresented as the consumers of donated organs and under represented as the donors (in absolute terms) is not good for society at all.

yardie 16y ago
That's a very US centric view of things. It's about a rich man in the US. If he was in another country than this would be a different conversation. Organ transplant is already hard enough, adding another layer doesn't improve anything. Jobs didn't jump the line, just found a shorter one. Since organ transplants are compatibility and location dependent wouldn't you also attempt to find where you had the best chance at advancing in the list and having a better match. It would make an interesting table if you could display organ phenotypes correlated by location. Maybe that is exactly what he has done that made him decide that Tennessee was the best place to be.
- ghaff 16y ago
  Liver is just by blood type. The main thing is that different regions of the country have longer or shorter waiting lists.

deleted 16y ago

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