bioethics.net News Update - Organ Transplant/Donation

Rapid organ recovery

Wed, 07 May 2008 11:35:42 EDT

New York City has a plan to equip ambulance crews to prep bodies for organ harvest -- before receiving consent from families. No organs would actually be removed without consent.

Medical pot patient, held off transplant list, dies

Sun, 04 May 2008 10:05:37 EDT

Timothy Garon died last week at a hospice in Seattle of liver disease. His lawyer believes Garon was bumped from the transplant list because of his use of prescribed marijuana.

Medical marijuana and transplants

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 10:52:52 EDT

Patients who have used physician-prescribed medical marijuana are being bumped from transplant lists. Some have been told they can reapply if they stay off the pot for six months or go into addiction treatment.

Chain of transplants swaps 6 kidneys at once

Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:55:18 EDT

The set of procedures performed at Johns Hopkins is reportedly the largest-ever swap of its kind. The transplants were performed simultaneously to prevent donors from backing out.

A third of patients on UNOS waiting list not eligible

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 09:49:07 EDT

That's according to a breakdown by the org itself. Critics say the list is misleading the public and policy makers.

California transplant doctor to stand trial

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 08:28:59 EDT

The surgeon is accused of hastening the death of a patient in order to harvest organs. He'll stand trial on felony abuse charges.

Egypt's thriving organ trade

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:36:56 EDT

The country has no laws regarding transplants and little oversight. A kidney can go for as much as $7300 in Egypt.

Boston hospital gets OK for face transplants

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 11:38:36 EST

The New England Organ Bank authorized Brigham and Women's hospital to perform partial face transplants. The first candidates will be recipients of donated kidneys because those patients are already on immunosuppressant drugs.

Two lungs are better than one

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:44:30 EST

A paper in the Lancet reports that COPD patients who receive two transplanted lungs, instead of one, live on median about two years longer. The problem: there aren't enough donor lungs to go around.

Woman donates kidney after seeing flyer

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:24:00 EST

The recipient was an 8-year-old. The donor saw the flier at the school where her children and the recipient all attend.

Hearings begin in organ harvesting case

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:29:42 EST

A California doctor is accused of speeding the death of patient so a transplant team could retrieve the patient's organs. The president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons called the case unprecedented.

Who wants to buy a pancreas?

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 12:23:58 EST

A Quebec man with a rare condition is trying to sell his pancreas online. The man reportedly decided to market his organ after a Montreal hospital told him it would not release the organ to him following a pancreatectomy. He seems to have found no takers, so far.

Do you own your body?

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 09:36:44 EST

Some say a government prohibition on selling our organs means we don't actually own our bodies. Others argue that's not necessarily true -- but it doesn't mean we should be able to sell our kidneys, either.

Doctor accused of masterminding Indian kidney thefts arrested

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 09:58:27 EST

Police apprehended Amit Kumar and his brother in Nepal. Kumar reportedly fled India after details of his massive illegal organ transplant operation surfaced last month.

Mass kindey theft in India

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 12:55:37 EST

Police say an illegal transplant operation had forcibly removed kidneys from about 500 people during the last nine years in a city just outside New Delhi. The ring's leader seems to have escaped arrest.