Donated organs riddled with disease

Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by: Paul Louis, staff writer
Tags: organ donations, health news, Natural News

(Natural News) In both the UK and the USA, organ donor numbers are declining while more who await organ transplants are dying. In the USA 6,000 died in 2001 while waiting for organ transplants, while in the UK 1,000 die annually waiting for organs.

This urgency creates mishaps, such as patients receiving damaged or diseased organs. The diseases are often liver related. Alcoholics and Hepatitis B and C donors not properly screened pass their diseased livers on to those who need liver transplants.

Donors with Mad Cow Disease who are not exhibiting symptoms have been another source of problems for patients awaiting organ transplants. And the stealth viruses from those donors who have received vaccinations are ignored.

Accepting drug addicts as donors invites damaged livers for transplants. Obesity, a virtual epidemic in America, creates a catch-22 in organ transplant medicine. The obese who have their own health problems are less likely to donate. But those who do are likely to pass on "fatty organs."

Sometimes organs are damaged from the extraction process or during transportation. Occasionally, damaged or diseased organs are surgically placed into the recipient and have to be removed. There are a few blood and tissue type mismatch errors, which even a surplus of donors cannot avoid.

In both the UK and the USA, some small efforts have been made to encourage organ donors. But even the donor list for allowing organs to be harvested after death is not keeping pace with demand. Europe uses a Presumed Consent organ collection system. This allows the removal of organs from a sudden death victim who has not opted out of that system.

The black market organ transplant market thrives on economically desperate donors. In India it is common for poor people in debt to sell a kidney for a little over $1,000. Their tragedy is they often slip back into debt minus a vital organ!

The price mark up for organ recipients using the black market to avoid waiting lists is high. So only the well-off can exploit that advantage. But the possibility of receiving damaged goods remains a constant threat to organ recipients.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews...

http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_101_15...