We must allow some experimentation with organ transplants (Organ removal and donation)

Name: lellagrace

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Product:	Organ removal and donation
Date:	22/10/06 (133 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Research needs to be carried out to save lives

Disadvantages: Without experiments we can not make progress

I have only just discovered this topic and would like to have my say on a topic which is controversial. It would be very easy to say we should not experiment and organ donation and removal should not be allowed. What I would like to see is strict controls over how donations are given, but we must allow for some “experimentation” otherwise how can we make progress? Now please read the rest of my review.

KIDNEY DONORS

In my family two close relatives have had kidney donations. The first was in the early sixties when organ transplants were a very new thing. There had recently been a lot of publicity surrounding the very first transplant that had taken place several weeks earlier and the operation on my relative was carried out in almost secrecy, with only the very closest relatives being informed initially, in case the news was leaked to the press and the hospital was besieged by journalists. All seems rather bizarre nowadays, with transplants taking place all the time, but that is what it was like then.

There was a lot of controversy about the first kidney transplants, but having witnessed the suffering of my young relative having to spend time on a dialysis machine we were all hoping a transplant would be a cure. Yes, it was experimentation and some older members of the family voiced their thoughts that she was being used as a guinea pig and they did not want her to go through unnecessary suffering. But without this operation what hope was there for this young life? A young, happily married woman the girl had started having problems after the birth of her first child. These were put down to post natal depression and then “nerves”. She was told to “pull yourself together”. It took many months of trips to the doctor before anyone would take her symptons seriously and it took her to collapse before she was referred to a hospital which recognised her symptons as those of kidney failure.

All this happened over 40 years ago, a long time perhaps and we have come on a lot with research since those days. Yes, the young woman was a guinea pig, yes she was experimented on and sadly she died only a few weeks after the kidney transplant. She was one of the early ones who received a kidney donation and yet it is thanks to her that others are now able to have this operation and lead normal lives afterwards.

But sadly I lost a very loved relative. Then many years later another member of the family started with similar problems. History repeating itself. Was it something hereditary? We were all worried and scared, but thankfully this time the transplant was successful and the patient now lives a very satisfying life.

So losing one relative was sad, but this sadness has now been lessened by the fact that we know she didn’t die in vain. Her operation might have been somewhat experimental but we know that what she had to go through has resulted in other lives being saved now.

CORNEA DONATION

On another area of organ donation, another relative of mine was rushed into intensive care after suffering an accident and was unconscious on a life support machine, with little hope left that he would survive.

Having been in to say my goodbyes to him, I came out of the room where he was still clinging to life and sat down near the nurse’s desk. A nurse was on the phone, nothing unusual in that, except that I realised she was discussing the donation of the cornea of the relative who I had just been to see.

I found this shocking and very upsetting, yes we knew there was no hope and he carried a donor card so we had no qualms that he wanted his body parts to go to help others. However, to hear a nurse discussing the age and general health of the patient and wondering if the cornea would be suitable for use, was very distressing to me.

I sincerely hope this was a one off situation, maybe the nurse didn’t realise I was a relative, even though the area around the desk was busy and her conversation was easily overheard by everyone.

Maybe in different circumstances I would have complained about what had happened, the telephone call should have been made in a private office out of earshot of anyone. But of course, I was upset so said nothing, but I do hope no one else has to go through this.

DONOR CARDS

We are encouraged to carry donor cards, this saves relatives the anxiety of knowing what to do if a loved one dies and organ donation saves lives. But having witnessed how painful it is to make that decision about donating organs,when a loved one is on a life support machine, I know how difficult it still is to give that permission.

Therefore, I would say:

To the medical profession – please be considerate when broaching this subject with those about to be bereaved. And if you must speak about the donation, please do this in private.

To the donor’s family, please take into account the families who your gift might help.

To those who allowed organs to be donated – a very big thank you, at least one member of my family has benefited.

And to the family who agreed to that first kidney donation for my relative back in the sixties, my heartfelt thanks. This must have been an even more difficult decision as at that time organ donation was very new and not very well known. Although the donation was not successful it did pave the way for more research which allows us to save even more lives today.

Summary: My relative was a "guinea pig" but her experience saved others' lives