I attended my first "class" of "transplant school" today with Tricia. It's basically a discussion group led by one of the transplant social workers. Here's a few observations:
> There are a lot of transplant patients waiting for their new lungs who are very angry and frustrated with the health care system and transplant procedures and cost that are in place in our country.
> Amazingly to me, based on the questions that were being asked, most of these transplant patients seem to know very little about everything involved with their transplant journey. We've been provided with a ton of info since our journey began a few months ago and feel very confident with knowing what is going on.
> Moral responsibility is HUGE. Most transplant patients are not in this boat because of an unavoidable illness but because of their own poor choices... Abuse your body (alcohol, smoking, obesity, sex) and you're either basically shooting yourself in the foot should you need a transplant later in life or stealing the opportunity to be a good donor and be a blessing to somebody else when you do pass away...
> The biggest fear among those on the list seems to be that they will die before ever getting the call...
> All transplantation issues, in my opinion, basically come down to a supply/demand problem. There is a HUGE demand and a very small supply because most people don't ever give organ donation a second thought. Health care cost, UNOS policies, etc. would become either secondary or non-factors if every patient had the assurance of receiving a transplant in a short period of time.
That's all for now.
Nate
That's awesome information and sad to hear the condition of things concerning donors and recipients.
ReplyDelete