donated organs going to foreigners

[southeastastra]

is this really true? read an article today

Well as a British person I signed up to be a donor in order to help someone after I die. I don't actually give a rats ass where they come from. One life is worth the same as another and frankly if (as the article makes clear) there are no suitable EU recipients why shouldn't my perfectly viable heart go to some man or woman from outer Mongolia so they can spend five more years with their children/husband/parents/friends.

I signed up to the organ donor scheme believing that if my life was cut short someone else (hopefully many other people) would be able to get a shot at life. It really didn't enter my mind who those people would be or what nationality. I honestly don't give a shit whether they are from the UK or not, what would be awful would be an organ going to waste because the dm or times or whatever decided to print a stupid sensationalist story about foreigners nicking our organs

you don't sound heartless, sea; just racist

DM has that effect on me too TSAP

well i guess i'm alone thinking that i signrd up for the transplant service thinking that it wasn't an international trade

How racist? She said a Brit on the NHS waiting list- that could be a person of any colour

My main problem is the money factor

I d prefer to have ....part of an Italianman inside me

now i'm racist???

I don't think SEA is being racist.

you haven't read it though SE by the sounds of it.

the organs that would have gone in the bin cos no match could be found, they go to the 'foreigners' and they have to pay cos they can't get free care on nhs.

eu 'foreigners' are, by european law, allowed to receive free care.

The article also points out that over 140 British patients benefitted from organs provided by foreign donors it's hardly a one-way deal although the article does try to portray it as being one way.

The Mail article said

"Foreigners pay around £75,000 for a liver transplant. The money is shared between the transplant surgeon, who may get around £20,000, and the hospital trust. The money does not pay for the organ itself, but for hospital accommodation and pre- and post-operative care."

Seems fair enough to me, if it's not a good match for someone on our waiting list.

However the Mail also said "40 livers were given to people from Greece and Cyprus last year, with a further three going to Malta and the Czech Republic.
The rest went to people from countries outside the EU - livers can be given to non-Europeans only if they are deemed to be not of good enough quality for British patients"

I don't like the idea of anybody being given an organ of "not good enough quality" - as if they might go through all that surgery (& pay all that money) & still have the new organ fail

The money would only be for treatment, the actual organs can't be sold.

alright, not racist, xenophobic then.

'Foreigners': they're just people. Who are poorly.

And frankly it smacks of the same kind of paranoia that others have mentioned about stealing our jobs and houses. I think a properly regulated international trade in organs would actually improve the wellbeing of many people as it would increase the pool of possible matches.

And you know what, there already is a much bigger international trade in organs of rich white people from wealthy countries travelling overseas to where poor people sell their organs through backstreet traders.

Wot wolfcub, wonderstuff etc said

A life is a life, i'm grateful I have the chance to save someone if I go too early, and that my famile will have the chance to receive if they need it.

x-post
Surely they mean not good enough match. Surely no doctor would agree to do an operation that would ultimately fail because the organ wasn't good enough?

I hope you're right, wonderstuff (it's highly likely that the DM got the wrong end of the stick of course )

I still have a problem with the money issue though as it means it is no longer done on a needs basis. It becomes available to only those patients who can afford to pay out several thouusands of pounds - and those who can't are left untreated and may die, because of their lack of funds.

IMO donor organation should always be on a needs basis, never on a "who can afford to pay the bill" basis.

but if you've paid national insurance for years it does piss you off

no it doesn't me sea and I have paid NI also

I always thought donor organs were very strictly given on a needs absis, with there being a priority list as per Peter?

Do we know for sure this has changed and its not just tabloid reporting?

It may be tiredness from a busy weekend but does this not seem a contradiction to the story?

"Livers which become available are allocated on the basis of clinical need and blood group, not ability to pay, and the decisions are made by doctors.

But campaigners said it was indefensible that organs should be given to foreign patients when they could save a Briton."

So therefore if it isn't suitable for anyone in Britain it can then go EU wide? Am I being particularly dense in not seeing anything wrong with that.

Sure, it is a pity if anyone dies while waiting for a transplant but if the organ isn't a match then that is just unfortunate. Doesn't mean it should be then thrown in the bin.

I think SEA is saying that people from outside the UK are buying organs donated by Brits, who have assumed that their organs will go to people on NHS waiting lists.

I think the issue is whether people are paying to queue jump rather than whereabouts in the world they hail from.

squonk they only pay for the associated treatment and hospital stay not the organ itself, this is the same for anyone from abroad who comes to the UK for any medical treatment, they pay as we would if we went to a BUPA hospital.

South

the same thing happens the other way around. There was an article in Cypriot papers about organs-from Greek Cypriots- that they went to 'foreigners' ...

Well think about it in a more positive way (having part of Greek man inside you)

And actually the comment about paying NI and all your other comments are very