“A celebrity like Apple CEO Steve Jobs scores a rare organ transplant and the world wonders: Did he game the system? The rich have plenty of advantages that others don’t. But winning the ‘transplant lottery’ involves more than the size of your wallet – and true medical need,” Marilynn Marchione writes for The Associated Press.
“No one can buy a transplant – that’s against federal law. And no one is suggesting that Jobs or the Memphis doctors who treated him bent any rules to show him favor. The hospital said he was the sickest person waiting for a liver when one became available,” Marchione writes. “However, people who understand how the transplant system works, and who have the money to make the most of what they learn, have a leg up on getting the part they need.”
“Here’s where money comes in. To get on a transplant center’s list, a prospective patient must go there, be evaluated by the staff and have tests to confirm medical need. If accepted, the patient must be able to get to that center within seven or eight hours if an organ becomes available. That means renting or buying a place nearby or being able to afford a private jet, or $3,000 to $5,000 for a chartered plane, to fly in on short notice,” Marchione writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’s simply natural selection in a modern age. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is a brilliant self-made billionaire. Corner wino Ralph is a drunken self-made ward of the state. One has more means at his disposal to help him legally secure the liver transplant he needs to live than the other. One just has a better shot at living than the other. Some may not like it, considering it somehow “unfair,” but at its core, excluding blind luck, that’s how this world has worked since life began.
Yes, we know: Replace Ralph the welfare wino with little six-year-old doe-eyed orphan Annie who’s liver is failing without ever having processed a drop of wine. It’s very sad, but it’s still natural selection. Today, money is muscle; wealth means strength. And the strong are still the ones who tend to survive.
MacDailyNews Note: Did you know that each organ and tissue donor saves or improves the lives of as many as 50 people? Each day, about 77 people receive organ transplants. However, 19 people die each day waiting for transplants that can’t take place because of the shortage of donated organs. Giving the “Gift of Life” may lighten the grief of the donor’s own family. Many donor families say that knowing other lives have been saved helps them cope with their tragic loss. More info about organ and tissue donation can be found here: OrganDonor.gov
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Brawndo Drinker” for the heads up.]
