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City to Deploy Ambulances to Save Organs

jamesrage

jamesrage

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I am one those people who worries that something like this may be abused. I admit that I am one of those people who thinks that if I got the organ donor checked on my box then some doctor is going to be looking at my hear or lungs like its a new Lexus and be like oops we can't do anything to save him.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/nyregion/01organ.html?src=me
Some 911 calls in Manhattan will now bring out two ambulances, one hurrying to the scene and one lagging slightly behind.

The first one will try to save the patient’s life. The second one will try to save the patient’s kidneys, in case the first ambulance fails.

After months of grappling with the ethical and legal implications, New York City medical officials are beginning to test a system that they hope will one day greatly increase the number of organs collected for transplant.

For five months starting Wednesday, the city will deploy a specially trained team that will monitor 911 calls for people who may be in danger of dying, like those having a heart attack. If efforts to resuscitate the patient fail, the team will quickly move in and try to save the kidneys; normally, patients who die outside hospitals cannot be donors because if too much time passes after the heart stops beating, the organs are unusable.

City officials said the project would be the first of its kind in the United States, though similar operations have been carried out in Europe. They said that they believed they had solved any ethical problems by adopting what they called very conservative standards for who would qualify as a donor.

To overcome fears that patients would be allowed to die for the sake of their organs, officials said that doctors and paramedics trying to resuscitate a patient would not be told whether the preservation unit was waiting in the wings until a supervisor had given the order to stop rescue efforts. The organ team, which will travel in a bright red and white ambulance marked “Organ Preservation Unit,” is supposed to remain out of sight.

The dead person would have to have registered as a donor through a card, driver’s license or online registry, and the family would also have to give consent.
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I think this is a good idea.
 
jamesrage said:
I am one those people who worries that something like this may be abused. I admit that I am one of those people who thinks that if I got the organ donor checked on my box then some doctor is going to be looking at my hear or lungs like its a new Lexus and be like oops we can't do anything to save him.
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I think it's a logistics problem. Who's going to look to see if the injured is an organ donor? First on scene? Then they radio in and say, "We've got a somewhat live one?" I bet you this program will cost millions....for very few organ donations. Anything, I guess, to avoid a donor's family making a few bucks. Waste of money.

Seems to me we could do a lot more at hospitals with the families of sick and dying patients in order to obtain consent..especially in emergency rooms.

Of course, the be-all-end-all will be when we allow people to sell their organs upon their death and let them (their families) make some of the tens of millons of dollars that are spent on organ transplants. Seems everybody can get paid except the guy with the organ. Something wrong with that picture.
 
jamesrage said:
I am one those people who worries that something like this may be abused. I admit that I am one of those people who thinks that if I got the organ donor checked on my box then some doctor is going to be looking at my hear or lungs like its a new Lexus and be like oops we can't do anything to save him.
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I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as the doctor isn't being paid or rewarded for harvesting your organs, there's no reason to suspect he would have any interest in letting you die to get your organs. Keeping his own patient alive is far more important than getting some organs to give to someone else's patient which MIGHT keep them alive.
 
jamesrage said:
I am one those people who worries that something like this may be abused. I admit that I am one of those people who thinks that if I got the organ donor checked on my box then some doctor is going to be looking at my hear or lungs like its a new Lexus and be like oops we can't do anything to save him.
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Well, that's a pretty silly thing to be afraid of. What incentive would these paramedics have to let you die, its not like they are going to get a commission for every organ they bring in.
 
Kandahar said:
I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as the doctor isn't being paid or rewarded for harvesting your organs, there's no reason to suspect he would have any interest in letting you die to get your organs.
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I still have that thought lingering in the back of head that I could come in after a auto accident and they would be eyeballing my liver, heart, lungs(probably not my lungs because I used to be a smoker almost 5 years ago, but then again any pair of lungs could be better than no lungs) or some other essential organ like its a new Lexus. And a ambulance medic could be pressured from the hospital to not save as many lives or to be inadequately stocked to make it harder for medics to save lives.

Keeping his own patient alive is far more important than getting some organs to give to someone else's patient which MIGHT keep them alive.
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Which is more profitable,treating someone with a minor yet life saving procedure or heart transplant? Doctors are no more ethical or moral than anyone else.
 
Kandahar said:
I wouldn't worry too much about it. As long as the doctor isn't being paid or rewarded for harvesting your organs, there's no reason to suspect he would have any interest in letting you die to get your organs. Keeping his own patient alive is far more important than getting some organs to give to someone else's patient which MIGHT keep them alive.
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Besides, they'd have to call 1-800-det-hpnl and get permission before they can let you expire. :lol:
 
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