Re:Ont. looks to B.C. while considering reimbursing people who donate l

[Guest guest]

Hopefully one or both of these measures will be approved in Ontario

this month to encourage organ donation. A good friend of ours just had

a second kidney tx from a living donor. Her first was from her father

and this one was from her uncle. They both had to spend time having

testing done, time in the hospital for surgery and recovery and time

away from work after being released from the hospital for further

recovery. All without compensation for income lost. The uncle was

required to fly part way across the country to provide this life saving

donation. All at his own expense. Luckily he had a smooth post

operative course. And the donated kidney is working well (after two

weeks of not working which stressed the donor, his wife, his brother

and the recipient, not to mention friends!). Anything the government

can do to increase donation rates is a good idea.

Aubrey, MD

PSC '81, UC '90, LTX '98, Recurrence '05

PS Although some feel that dialysis is a good option for renal failure,

I know from caring for dialysis patients that it's a form of living

death; most do not do well on dialysis at all or for the long term.

That is why I consider renal tx a life saving surgery. Being on

dialysis is not a life.