And you thought YOU had a bad day

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ToyotaNSaturn

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An awful story:

Iraq veteran dies of cancer after lung transplant from heavy smoker
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6870424.ece

An Iraq war veteran died after receiving cancerous lungs from a heavy smoker in a transplant.

Matthew Millington, 31, a corporal in the Queen’s Royal Lancers, had the operation to save him from an incurable respiratory condition.

But the organs were from a donor who was believed to have smoked 30 to 50 roll-up cigarettes a day. A tumour was found after the transplant, and its growth was accelerated by the drugs that Mr Millington took to prevent his body rejecting the organs.

Because he was a cancer patient, he was not allowed to receive a further pair of lungs, under hospital rules.
 
I saw that on the news earlier today. Apparently, it's not uncommon in England to "part out" smokers. Can't wait until we've got that fancy gummint health care here...

Win-win for the hospital...

Patient: I need lungs.
Hospital: OK, here's a pair.
Patient: You've given me cancer, I want another set.
Hospital: Sorry, the policy is to refuse organ transplants
to patients with cancer.
Patient: But you GAVE me the cancer!
Hospital: Next......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp-pU8TFsg0
 
Originally Posted By: Familyguy

Win-win for the hospital...

Especially when you consider how many $$$ they charged for said defective lungs!!
shocked2.gif
 
30-50 no filter ciggs a day! And they still used his lungs?

In America some lawyer somewhere would be licking his chops.

Peace to Corp. Millingtons Family and Friends.
 
Did they not inspect the goods before they were installed? A smoker like that must have had lungs as black as coal!
 
I have a feeling that we're heading toward a "They shoot horses, don't they" collision under whatever persuasion you ultimately settle on. We'll either be short serviced or incredibly out priced.

That's the typical consumer, mind you.

"The market" won't provide. It will distribute.
 
Originally Posted By: Shannow

I'd rather not have profit included in medical decisions.


At least with profit included there is some miniscule incentive to not annoy the client. Unhappy clients don't come back. This is why a government run system where "you've got to come back cuz there's nowhere else to go" is so dangerous. Imagine a healthcare system run like the motor vehicles office in your state....trusting your health to unmotivated individuals who get paid the same regardless of whether you leave happy/sad or alive/dead. No thanks.
 
This reminds me of the adage "any port in a storm"... even one that turns out unnavigable.

To fix humans we use parts off of other humans, assembled with human hands. Room for miracles and total screwups.

Imagine the alternative, "well we found a one-in-high-odds match but the guy smoked so we're not gonna let you have them."
 
What boggles my mind is that the fact the doctors HAD to inspect the lungs to see that they were black as, well, tar. Yet they went ahead with the surgery anyway. !??!?!??!
 
The investigation showed that the radiographer should have detected the tumor before the transplant, or worse DID detect it but just didn't communicate that fact. I'm not sure which would be more negligent.
 
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