Segment# / 11 / Location / Date / 3/31/2007
Story Name / A CLOSER LOOK ORGANS FOR SALE
Notes
FRANK DELMONICO, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF TRANSPLANT SURGEONS
18:48:43
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18:48:43 DAVID KERLEY
(OC) Tonight, we take 'a closer look" at a radical solution to a medical
crisis, the shortage of donor organs. By far, the greatest demand is for
kidneys. More than 70,000 people need one, but only 17,000 received a
donor kidney last year and more than 6,000 people died waiting for one.
One prominent surgeon is proposing a controversial remedy, allow
volunteers to sell one of their kidneys. Here's ABC's John McKenzie.
18:49:09 JOHN MCKENZIE, ABC NEWS
(VO) Since diabetes damaged his kidneys, Michael Kelly has had to rely
on this machine to filter his blood. Three days every week, for hours at
a time, it's been that way for more than a year.
18:49:22 MICHAEL KELLY, PATIENT
The whole process of it, it really wipes you out.
18:49:25 JOHN MCKENZIE
(VO) Dialysis can keep Kelly alive, but not for as long as a real
kidney.
18:49:30 MICHAEL KELLY
It's kind of out of my hands. And all I can do is sort of wait until,
you know, somebody wants to donate a kidney. I only need one. But
there's, how do you get that one?
18:49:42 JOHN MCKENZIE
(VO) Getting a kidney is now so difficult, the demand so great. The
current president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons says it's
time to start paying people for one of their kidneys.
18:49:53 DOCTOR ARTHUR MATAS, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
It sounds like the wrong thing to do, to be buying kidneys, until you
start realizing that unless we do something dramatic, we're going to have
a continuation of this situation where patients are dying on dialysis and
their quality of life is worse.
18:50:09 JOHN MCKENZIE
(VO) Dr. Matas argues you can already buy and sell human sperm, eggs and
blood, why draw the line at kidneys and other organs? And because a
transplant saves so much money in long-term medical costs, Matas says the
government and insurance companies could afford to pay each donor one
fixed price.
18:50:27 DOCTOR ARTHUR MATAS
When all is said and done, the package could be worth maybe up to about
$60,000 or $70,000 and, again, still be cost neutral to the healthcare
system.
18:50:37 JOHN MCKENZIE
(OC) The obstacles to such a plan are huge. Organ sales are currently
against the law, and virtually, every major medical association is against
the idea, including Dr. Matas' own transplant society.
18:50:49 JOHN MCKENZIE
(VO) They argue the plan is unmanageable and would exploit the poor.
They point to Iran and Pakistan and the Philippines, where kidneys are
sold on the BLACK MARKET.
18:50:59 DOCTOR FRANK DELMONICO, MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
There are plenty of data about the poor of the world who have sold their
kidney. And I can assure you what has happened is that they remain
destitute, they remain poor and they remain then with one less kidney.
18:51:14 DOCTOR ARTHUR MATAS
I think it's critical to differentiate unregulated systems, which have
failed in other countries, from the regulated system, which I'm
advocating.
18:51:23 JOHN MCKENZIE
(VO) Matas' proposal, published in several medical journals, emphasizes
kidney sales that are controlled by the government and insurance
companies, no middlemen or brokers. Sellers would get a full physical and
psychological evaluation and long-term follow-up and medical care.
18:51:39 DOCTOR ARTHUR MATAS
The only way that we will know whether or not such a system will work is
to try a pilot project.
18:51:45 JOHN MCKENZIE
(VO) To see whether kidney sales can be a fair and effective solution to
an increasingly desperate medical crisis. John McKenzie, ABC News, New
York.
18:51:55 DAVID KERLEY
(OC) And the debate over the subject continues online. You can see what
both sides are saying and weigh in with your own thoughts at our website
at ABCNEWS.com.