Live organ donation in the US

Voici un commentaire particulièrement éclairant publié suite à un article de "Healthday" : "Shortage of Transplant Organs Spurs Proposals But No Solution" (lire l'article).

"The illusion of the growing organ shortage was created by a 2002 policy change by UNOS allowing 'inactives' (folks unable to have a transplant) to remain on the list indefinitely, multiple listings (such that Steve Jobs benefitted from), and the percentage of folks wait listed that have already had at least one transplant.
Tha's right: transplants are NOT cures. Most recipients need multiple transplants to have a 'normal' lifespan. Jobs, etc. feels entitled to an endless supply of organs and views living donors only as incubators. Perhaps he should invest some of his millions into perfecting lab-grown organs instead.
1 in 300 living donors will die as a direct result of the surgery; 1-2 per yr in the US. Others suffer from permanent nerve damage, intestinal blockage, bleeding, pancreatitis, adrenal dysfunction, testicular swelling & sensitivity, chylous ascites (lymph damage), hernias, high-risk pregnancies, etc.
There is NO long-term comprehensive data on living donor's health & well-being. Organs have been harvested from live people for over 50 yrs but the medical community has refused to track or study them; has refused the implementation of a registry, even though one exists for recipients. We know LDs have a higher risk of cardiac death & disease, hypertension and kidney failure only because of research on people who had kidneys removed for medical reasons. Yet the industry continues to tout living donation has 'low risk' and 'safe' (the Canadian medical association disagrees).
Living donors suffer from depression, anxiety, anger and PTSD, yet not a single transplant center offers support or aftercare services. LDs are discharged two days after surgery & referred to their primary care physician (if there is one; no one checks).
UNOS has required transplant ctrs to submit follow-up forms for 2 yrs since 2006 but the latest 'utilization' report (1998-2008; it's always behind) stipulates 30% of 2006's forms are incomplete and worse, some transplant ctrs report ALL of the LDs as 'lost to follow-up', meaning they've made no effort to follow-up at all. UNOS refuses to publish these centers' names, nor punish them in any way for non-compliance. They serve the transplant centers and not the public good."

"In the United States, about 100,000 adults and children are waiting for organ transplants."
" (...) only about one in 1,000 deaths leading to a viable organ for transplant (...)" (Art Caplan).

Une fin de vie sur mille modifiée pour cause de don d'organes, c'est énorme ! Rappelons que le don d'organes modifie la fin de vie du donneur, qui décède au bloc. Un donneur d'organes, c'est une vie sur le départ ...