Tuesday, September 5, 2006Bushman's heartThe title begs the question: Just who is Bushman, and what does Bushman have to do with organ transplantation (the subject of all the entries in this blog)? The answer is simple. Bushman was a lowland gorilla who lived in captivity, at Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, until his death in 1951. (For... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 7:06 AM Comments (0) (link) Monday, September 4, 2006Donation vs. PaymentThis is one of the great ethical issues facing transplant surgeons, believe it or not. Some ethicists believe strongly that organ procurement organizations (OPOs) should pay donors directly (thus making the term "donor," with its implication that the person doing the donating is giving something... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 8:47 AM Comments (0) (link) Sunday, July 16, 2006Matching DonorsThis morning, the CBS program Sunday Morning featured the website called MatchingDonors.com. This site is designed specifically to match living donors with recipients. First of all, however, there is a great deal I must explain about the organ-donation process. Back in 1979, when I was transplanted,... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 7:10 AM Comments (0) (link) Friday, July 14, 2006Leaving the FieldDuring the break I took from writing in my various blogs today, I flipped through a book I have, which book is entitled The Ethics of Organ Transplants. It's actually a compilation of essays on organ transplantation - not the physical aspects (such as the details of how to take care of recipients,... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 1:43 PM Comments (0) (link) More observations on the ethics of organ donationI originally posted some observations on organ-transplant ethics in my blog From Death Into Life (accessible through my member profile), because those observations were directly related to the Catholic faith, in the sense that I was talking about a papal address. In here, I'd like to share... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 12:14 PM Comments (0) (link) Saturday, January 31, 2004Time sure fliesI didn't get a chance to write this on Thursday, but it's been 25 years since I was transplanted. Hard to believe, but true. And I'm not the longest-surviving transplant recipient, either, at least not to my knowledge. I run a mailing list on Yahoo for long-term recipients, and on that list is a... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 10:38 AM Comments (4) (link) Saturday, January 24, 2004Five years and counting - the first successful hand transplantFive years ago, Matthew Scott got a hand transplant. Even now, he remembers the moment when he woke up after surgery and saw that he had real fingers on a real hand, rather than prosthetic hooks on a faux hand. Although I could go into depth about what has happened to him since, I would rather focus... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 1:35 PM Comments (0) (link) Thursday, December 18, 2003Alonzo Mourning set to receive transplantBasketball fans are aware of just who I'm talking about when I mention Alonzo Mourning. Three seasons ago, he was diagnosed with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (don't worry about memorizing the name of the disease - just call it FSGS) but was allowed to keep playing for as long as he felt... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 2:01 PM Comments (0) (link) Thursday, April 24, 2003Doctor donates kidney to patientSusan Hou went to medical school with a patient in kidney failure, back in the days before federal funding was available in the United States for dialysis. In addition to his kidney failure, he was concerned with finances; his pocketbook, already very lean from medical-school expenses, would be... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 7:17 PM Comments (0) (link) Wednesday, April 23, 2003LifeSharersLifeSharers is a website describing a method of organ allocation in the private sector. I got the link through a contact in the Libertarian party, and I was also led to a story about Life Sharers in a New Orleans newspaper. This story indicated that UNOS, the federally-funded organization which... Sign in to see full entry.posted by kidnykid at 1:49 PM Comments (0) (link) |
About this BlogThis was originally intended to be written during Organ Donor Awareness Week only, but I felt like writing about transplant-related issues at other times of the year.
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