Kidney Transplant Eligibility is Not Based on Love

Scrolling through InstaPundit this morning I came upon a post which, in its entirety, reads as follows.  YOU LOVE YOUR KID? Too bad.

The words “Too bad” embed a link, which I clicked on, thinking that the government in some way, shape or form was interfering with a parent’s natural right to care for their child.  The embedded link takes readers to a post by Elizabeth Scalia titled You love your kid?  Too bad!, which opens this way.

It’s really too bad that you love your three-year old daughter who needs a kidney transplant, because you know what? We’re not giving her one because she’s retarded!:

I begin to shake. My whole body trembles and he begins to tell me how she will never be able to get on the waiting list because she is mentally retarded.

A bit of hope. I sit up and get excited.

“Oh, that’s ok! We plan on donating. If we aren’t a match, we come from a large family and someone will donate. We don’t want to be on the list. We will find our own donor.”

“Noooo. She—is—not—eligible –because—of—her—quality– of –life—Because—of—her—mental—delays” He says each word very slowly as if I am hard of hearing.’
[...]

He pauses as if he is choosing his words carefully. “I have been warned about you. About how involved you and your family are with Amelia.”

Ms. Scalia is so incensed by this news that she “kind of” wishes that the execrable Ted Kennedy were still alive, to pull strings for the young girl’s family.

Right now, I kind of wish Ted Kennedy were alive. Many don’t realize it, but a case like this was precisely the sort of circumstance under which he’d pull together his little Irish cabal of doctors and friends and get the thing done.

Which only proves to me that Ms. Scalia is not above utilizing favoritism to get her way, though I would wager Ms. Scalia would be against the type of favoritism allegedly shown to Beyonce and Jay-Z, at the expense of other new parents.

The young girl in question here, Amelia, is afflicted with what is known as Wolf-Hirschhorn Syndrome, and based on this condition, Amelia is ineligible for a kidney transplant, and I can fully understand Amelia’s parents’ heartbreak upon learning of their child’s ineligibility for a kidney transplant, even if the kidney was being donated by a family member.

I can fully appreciate Amelia’s parents’ heartbreak, because for the last eight (8) years of my Father’s life he had to contend with failed kidneys and dialysis.  My Dad was interested in a kidney transplant, and he had eight (8) loving children who were all willing to undergo the rigors of donating a kidney to him in order to release him from the slavery of dialysis and the physical ups and downs needing contending with due to his body’s inability to remove toxins as the result of total kidney failure.

We loved our Dad dearly, but he too was ineligible for a kidney transplant due to other underlying medical issues, and so he did not receive a transplant, and he passed away in late 2007 still a dialysis patient.

If you consider the guidelines for the Assessment of the Potential Kidney Transplant Recipient, you’ll note that the guidelines mention nothing about love, and it is well that they do not, because almost all parents love their children, regardless of their physical or mental well-being, as deeply as Amelia’s parents love her.

Love, in all its various manifestations, is immeasurable, but kidney transplant eligibility is not based on love, it is based on cold, hard diagnostic facts.  A fact which can be exceptionally difficult to accept, because of the depth love within families which care deeply.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 01/18 at 09:35 AM

  1. A few thoughts:

    That the Renal Association is of the UK, and that they are most certainly influenced by the UK’s involvement in socialised medicine for 66 years, and having read their site as it keeps coming back to “availabilty” as the underlying rational, makes me a bit more than skeptical.

    The AMA in this country has always kept itself on a higher “shelf” - an exclusivity that for them, has benefitted greatly from being welded at the hip with gummint, and insurance companies.

    Neither in your Dad’s case, nor Amelia’s, is “availability” an issue.

    Were medicine to free itself of the shackles of gummint, attend to its stated task, and appropriate free market principles, along with a lawyer with a modicum of knowledge about contract law, especially regarding acknowledgement of risk, your Dad’s case and Amelia’s would have had far different endings.

    If I can remove the medieval mystique with which the the medial community still partially enshrouds itself . . .

    “Yo, Zeke!

    “Wassup, Jeff?”

    “I just went to AutoZone - got new plugs and wires.  Need ya to stick ‘em in the old beast for me.”

    “Cain’t do it, Jeff.”

    “Well, why not?  Sheesh!”

    “Jeff, that ‘99 Caravan of yours is old - ‘bout past it’s lifetime.  The brakes need bleeding, the catalytic converter is on its last legs, your rear differential needs to be redone completely, and that left front strut needs replacing.  If I put new plugs and wires in, I am not really helping things much.”

    But, Dude!  I hit the gas to pass someone and two of the four plugs fail to get the cue.”

    “I understand, but you’re just prolonging the inevitable, Jeff.  Besides, there are other considerations.”

    “Whaa?”

    “Well, there is only a limited supply of plugs for a vehicle your age, and only ‘99 Caravans in perfect condition can get a tune-up.  The state has issued regs to the mechanic association that we are not to waste time on old vehicles, especially ones with problems.”

    “Let me get this straight: I have plugs, wires and cash in hand.  Pull old wires, unscrew old plugs. reverse the procedure with the new, get paid, and there is something wrong with that?”

    Jeff, we are held to higher standards than merely keeping cars like yours on the road.  Besides, another ‘99 Caravan owner with a vehicle in much better shape, may need those plugs.  It wouldn’t be right to waste them on your old beast.”

    “Zeke - these are my plugs and my wires and my money.  None of what you have said makes the least bit of sense.  You are in the business of fixing cars.  How do make a living?”

    “You should see what the regs let me charge when I do decide a vehicle is worthy.”

    For the record, Zeke is an excellent mechanic, specializes in geriatric automobiles, and your money is always good with him.

    And he is quite reasonable.  But have a paper towel in hand when you pay him and shake his hand, ‘cause he will probably have the grease and oil from the innards of one his other “patients” in the shop.

    Posted by jb  on  01/18  at  01:21 PM

  2. This is what comes of removing organ donation from the marketplace.

    Posted by Tam  on  01/19  at  05:34 PM

  3. Bingo, y’all. My kidney, my doctors = nobody’s business. Would *I* do it in this case? No. But my values aren’t these folks’ values. If I were going to donate a kidney to the kid, and TPTB disallowed it, I would do my best to make sure that NOBODY got the kidney. You want to nationalize my organs? F—- you….

    Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  01/26  at  09:43 AM

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