4 ms·

For a contrary view, this comment on Marginal Revolution is worth considering (https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/04/unos-kills.html?comment

by dynm 2y ago

For a contrary view, this comment on Marginal Revolution is worth considering (https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/04/unos-kills.html?commentID=160742427 https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2024/04/un...) > My spouse works for a doctor who specializes in kidney transplants. This post has numerous errors and misleading statements; so many that it probably should be taken down. > Firstly, there is a very good reason why some recovered organs are not transplanted. It’s because they arent healthy kidneys. Either due to the health of the donor or a long cold ischemic time, these kidneys would not function properly in a recipient. The center my spouse works for is nationally recognized as being aggressive; making use of kidneys that other doctors reject, but there are plenty of kidneys that they will mot use and no center will. > Secondly, organs are GPS tracked. > Next, UNOS requires each center to remove someone from the wait list within 24 hours of finding out about the death. My spouses center checks in with patients once every 3 months, so, at most, there can be a 3 month delay between death and list maintenance. In practice, the family or dialysis center will notify the doctors office much earlier than that. I highly doubt the 17 percent of matches are against deceased patients stat because it has never happened in all the years my spouse has been working there > Also prior living donors are given priority

jessriedel 2y ago
> Also prior living donors are given priority This does not conflict with the Marginal Revolution post. Tabarrok is suggesting a policy where registered potential organ donors (i.e., people who sign up to be organ donors in the event of their own death) should receive priority if they later need an organ. There are vastly more such people than living donors. > Secondly, organs are GPS tracked. This seems wrong. If they all were tracked, it would be a very silly mistake to make to claim otherwise. The most likely resolution is that the organ transport firm who works with this particular doctor (the commenter's spouse) does do tracking, but that tracking is not universal and perhaps not common. In which case Tabarrok's criticism would stand. Here's the source of the claim that GPS tracking is not required, which indeed notes that some transport firms track and some do not: > Jones noted that his firm ships organs only on direct flights and uses GPS tracking to monitor them. > However, GPS tracking isn’t universal — or required by UNOS or HRSA. Some couriers and airlines use it; many don’t. Many OPOs monitor organs through a combination of verbal handoffs, automation and label scans, Brown said. https://kffhealthnews.org/news/how-lifesaving-organs-for-transplant-go-missing-in-transit/ https://kffhealthnews.org/news/how-lifesaving-organs-for-tra...
eviks 2y ago
Seems that 17% is from 2008-2015 data (this is the link from the original article linked in the post) https://www.amjtransplant.org/article/S1600-6135(22)09789-1/fulltext https://www.amjtransplant.org/article/S1600-6135(22)09789-1/... Also it mentions a policy of relying on SSA data, which makes more sense than checking on each patient manually every 3 months (though the data access got worse due to a policy change). Curious why this doesn't match ther personal experience of the commenter's spouse, should be a high enough number to be noticeable?
Levitating 2y ago
This is just a comment from someone whos "spouse works for a doctor who specializes in kidney transplants" on a semi-related internet post by a professor of economics. The actual article here is an interview with the people who accumulated all this data and have spent years researching UNOS. Besides: > There have been some tremendous surgeons who have spoken up, and three have testified before three different congressional hearings in recent years, saying that too many of their patients are dying, and the system has to be fixed.
DoreenMichele 2y ago
[flagged]
hanniabu 2y ago
> Secondly, organs are GPS tracked. While they're transported or while they're in you?

by dynm 2y ago

jessriedel 2y ago

> Also prior living donors are given priority This does not conflict with the Marginal Revolution post. Tabarrok is suggesting a policy where registered potential organ donors (i.e., people who sign up to be organ donors in the event of their own death) should receive priority if they later need an organ. There are vastly more such people than living donors. > Secondly, organs are GPS tracked. This seems wrong. If they all were tracked, it would be a very silly mistake to make to claim otherwise. The most likely resolution is that the organ transport firm who works with this particular doctor (the commenter's spouse) does do tracking, but that tracking is not universal and perhaps not common. In which case Tabarrok's criticism would stand. Here's the source of the claim that GPS tracking is not required, which indeed notes that some transport firms track and some do not: > Jones noted that his firm ships organs only on direct flights and uses GPS tracking to monitor them. > However, GPS tracking isn’t universal — or required by UNOS or HRSA. Some couriers and airlines use it; many don’t. Many OPOs monitor organs through a combination of verbal handoffs, automation and label scans, Brown said. https://kffhealthnews.org/news/how-lifesaving-organs-for-transplant-go-missing-in-transit/ https://kffhealthnews.org/news/how-lifesaving-organs-for-tra...

eviks 2y ago

Seems that 17% is from 2008-2015 data (this is the link from the original article linked in the post) https://www.amjtransplant.org/article/S1600-6135(22)09789-1/fulltext https://www.amjtransplant.org/article/S1600-6135(22)09789-1/... Also it mentions a policy of relying on SSA data, which makes more sense than checking on each patient manually every 3 months (though the data access got worse due to a policy change). Curious why this doesn't match ther personal experience of the commenter's spouse, should be a high enough number to be noticeable?

Levitating 2y ago

This is just a comment from someone whos "spouse works for a doctor who specializes in kidney transplants" on a semi-related internet post by a professor of economics. The actual article here is an interview with the people who accumulated all this data and have spent years researching UNOS. Besides: > There have been some tremendous surgeons who have spoken up, and three have testified before three different congressional hearings in recent years, saying that too many of their patients are dying, and the system has to be fixed.

DoreenMichele 2y ago

[flagged]

hanniabu 2y ago

> Secondly, organs are GPS tracked. While they're transported or while they're in you?