CORRECTION: As of today (May 19) while there have been many volunteers - a match has not yet been found
Eugene Melnyk will, in all likelihood, get a new liver in
the next few weeks. He received the good news just over a week after he went
public with his condition. Without any hesitation or any sarcasm in my words or
attitude let me say - I think that is great news. Anytime someone has a life
threatening medical condition and gets to live longer and healthier life - we
should all put that in the win column. The only question is why him and not one
of the 700 or so people across Canada waiting for a liver transplant (number is
a guestimate based on a 2004 report (NCBI)). Is Mr. Melnyk
a particularly charitable individual? Has he done something extraordinary in
terms of making the world a better place? No - his main claim to fame appears to be that
he owns a professional hockey team. Within a day of the press release
describing his critical condition he started to get offers from complete
strangers for a piece of their liver. He was fortunate that a good match was
found between him and one of the volunteers. Finding a good match is all about
the numbers. The more livers there are to choose from, the more likely it is
that that a good match will be found.
If Mt. Melnyk's condition and the extraordinary response from
hockey fans meant that we had turned a corner in Canadians willingness to donate
their organs, then I would be delighted. If the public awareness generated by
Mr. Melnyk led to many more lives being saved, it would be a win-win situation
for everyone. However I think the sad reality is that by next month people will
have forgotten this minor celebrity reality show and moved on to something
else. The number of people signing a organ donors card (and telling their
family) will not increase. It is more than sad that we live in a world where
someone with money or a particular claim to fame gets special attention while
others equally as deserving get very little attention. From all reports it is
not that Mr. Melnyk wanted this attention. In fact it appears that he was
reluctant to use his fame to find a liver. One can't blame him for doing all
that he could to save his life. But one should be able to blame someone for the
fact that there is an inherent unfairness in a system that requires an
individual to beg, through the media, for their life. It is even more unfair
when those who are popular or pretty or rich have a much better chance of
winning.
I have to wonder about the people who indicated that they
would be prepared to donate a chunk of their liver. What made them agree to
surgery (no matter how safe it is reputed to be - it is still surgery with all
of its inherent risks) - to give up part of their body to a complete stranger?
Why would they not agree to do that for anyone on the transplant waiting list? Why
was giving a piece of an organ to a famous/rich/powerful person so important to
them?
I can't help but wonder what it must feel like to be a
person, on the liver transplant list, who has been waiting for weeks, perhaps
months for the phone call that says "we have got a match and you are next
in line" to know that someone has, because of that person's position in
society, jumped the queue. I can't imagine the frustration and perhaps the out-right
anger that they were not really next in line. If it were me, I suspect that I
would spend whatever little energy that I had plotting a way to make myself
famous so that I too could get a piece of someone's liver.
Surely in the year 2015 we can do something that prevents
needless deaths. Right now in Ontario, if one wants to donate organs after
death, one must fill out a form when renewing your health card; but one must
also make your instructions clear to your family. Regardless of what is on your
Ontario Health Card or what other forms
you have in your purse or wallet - hospitals and doctors always defer to the
patient's family. A simple law stating that all organs can be harvested after a
person dies unless they indicate that they don't want that, would ensure at
least some of the 700 people waiting for a liver transplant and the thousands
of others needing other transplants would not have to sit on a waiting list
watching other people jump the queue.
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