FROM THE FRYING PAN INTO THE FIRE
It might be nightie night for three transplant patients who got organs from an HIV-positive donor in Italy.
The infected kidneys and liver were implanted "due to tragic human error" after an expert testing the organs accidentally wrote negative on the report instead of positive.
Oops! Hopefully, the organ donation program won't be hurt by this.
Imagine getting that news coming out of anesthesia.
There may be no escaping "when it's your time, it's your time."
posted by Diana at 10:25 AM
10 Comments:
I absolutely would consider having someone else's organs in my body...and I would consider organ donation.
My inspiration? Five years ago, my boss, Susan Hager, announced that she had end-stage kidney disease and would certainly require dialysis (or worse) had she not found a donor. Thankfully, she found one: Karen Cassiday, our firm's Chief Operating Officer. Karen had overheard that Susan was having difficulty finding a match, so she got tested, never really expecting to be a match. She was a match, and decided to go ahead with the donation. The kidney transplant was a complete success, and now five years later, both Susan and Karen are healthy and active (and still working for the firm).
Our firm's slogan is "Communications that Make a Difference." Karen's heroic actions made me think we should instead say "Co-workers who Make a Difference!"
It is a tragic mistake, but I would give it a shot anyway given the odds!
In the end, most of these medical tragedies are due to "human" error even with all the technological advances, etc..a nurse gives wrong dosage of meds, a surgeon leaves behind surgical instruments inside a patient post-op, the wrong type blood is transfused and so on.
We have a bumper sticker on our car which reads, "PLEASE DON'T TAKE YOUR ORGANS TO HEAVEN. HEAVEN KNOWS WE NEED THEM HERE."
Sure, serious mistakes are made in the healthcare world all the time, but that's no reason to discontinue healthcare.
Tragic mistake but if I need an organ to survive I would take it in a heartbeat. At least with the lawsuit they have pleanty of money for those expensive HIV medications.
Talk about a bad day at work for the expert testing the organs. Atleast when I make a mistake at work no one dies because of it. I wonder if they can prevent them from getting AIDS by giving them antiviral medicines right away like they do if a nurse or doctor is exposed?
the article did say the patients were on antiviral meds.
You can bet I would take a donated organ.
If you are in need of such an operation, you're in a pretty bad position anyway.
The odds of this occurring again are very slim, and once such a mistake happens, they will be under closer scrutiny still.
Transplant organs have to be checked for disease as well as blood type. Giving a type A, B or AB organ parts to some one who is type O will cause a quick immune reaction and death. The same care has to be given as when blood products are given.
I spent approximately 10 year with the now former wife as she doctored at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Hospital in NYC.
I have seen first hand,the despair on the faces of many of the patients there.Patients for whom,options were swiftly running out.
I would certainly given the need,accept another's organs transplanted to me.
We've come a long way in the safe guarding of our medical procedures in this country save for a rare accident such as this.
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