Loren Pechtel

I was suggesting reading the book. It's set in the near future and amounts to a warning about the dangers of mandatory organ donation for death-sentance prisoners. It's reasonably good sci-fi besides being a warning.

Daleth

Are you sure about that? I'm not saying you're wrong; I honestly don't know. But it seems to me like finding a match is a very complex thing and that a good match for 1 person out of 4,000 would often not be a good match for anyone else out of the 4,000. Could be I'm completely off on that when it comes to hearts. I know matching has different levels of complexity for different kinds of transplants.

Right. It seems far more important to me to focus on who's NOT able to get a needed transplant than who is able. So a prisoner is getting a transplant. While some may consider this an injustice, it pales in comparison to the injustice faced by ordinary people who are going to die because they have the wrong insurance or are not rich.

I do hope they take into account a person's recovery and things like how long they've been sober.

xorbie

Here's the thing about the prison people. Personally, I think people on death row should not be anywhere near the top of any list of transplants. We don't give livers to people who might destroy them with alcohol, why give organs to people who we are sure will die? However, I think all other prison inmantes should be able to get transplants. Some of those people are in there for silly things, and some are innocent, why punish them more than they are already being punished?

Also, after watching John Q, I do understand the position that it is totally unfair that poor people do not even get on the lists. However, I must say that even though I feel bad for these people, there is nothing that can really be done about it. Given the choice between someone who can pay for a heart transplant and forcing me to pay it, why should I pay for it? It's not fair, but sadly that is life.

Sure, if we had enough organs to go around, I would be willing to spend money on organ transplants for the poor, but we don't.

Daleth

I should have added, I used the phrase "someone more deserving" based on what appeared to be your definition of it, not my own. You implied that you were making exactly that sort of value judgement about the prisoner you mentioned who's getting the heart transplant. If you weren't, sorry for the mistake.

Daleth

Or why say that because Prisoner X has taken better care of his body or simply happens to be a match for someone, he should have to face consequences different from Prisoner Y who committed the same crime and got the same sentence but isn't a suitable donor for whatever reason?

I don't think most Americans would see it that way. I think we'd have a far easier time coming up with more donor organs (some good ideas for doing that already on the thread) than we would convincing the public to spend the money.

Rusting Car Bumper

Having a loved one involved in healthcare of the elderly for many years.

DC

brighid

I would say, given the large number of men on death row who have been recently exonerated by DNA evidence that a deathrow inmate is not any less deserving of a transplant then any other prisoner, simply because he/she is on death row.

A organ transplantation (depending on the organ) does not guarantee anyone of a much longer life. Many death row inmates are on death row for decades and I don't see why, given everyone is eventually going to die, to prohibit this medical procedure because we know, with greater certainty that a death row inmate (if not exonerated) will die.

I also agree with whomever posted that the greater injustice is those men,women and children who will certainly die due to no fault of their own other then their socioeconomic status, or poor health insurance. Those same people aren't likely to have gotten the transplant the inmate would receive.

Brighid

scigirl

This isn't completely related, but since our school is a part of the project, I"ll bring it up anyway.

It's called the Visible Human Project . The first subject was a prisoner from Texas death row - they froze him and cut him into millimeter sections, took pictures, and used fancy programming to reconstruct the human body from the sections. It was a great asset to our anatomy class - and really helped us correlate CT/MRI scans with "real" anatomical pictures.

There are strict rules now that govern what we can do to prisoners in terms of research, but I think in the past, we took advantage of this vunerable population to test drugs and study diseases. So - when I think about these facts, it changes my perspective a bit on whether or not prisoners should get organ transplants.

Heh - it's kind of sad that one of the best ways to get pretty good health care for "free" is to commit a crime. Keep that in mind, all you unemployed and uninsured infidels!

scigirl

Viti

The elderly are more likely to have other health problems that affect their overall quality of life. My kidney recipient was 33 years old...his quality of life is vastly improved.

Rusting Car Bumper

This is a good point. I should qualified my statements accordingly.

I was specifically referring to transplants and medical procedures that keep the elderly mechanically alive but in a poor state of affairs.

DC