An Ill Wind
September 24, 2018 5:58 AM   Subscribe

While the number of opioid overdose deaths nationwide has doubled since 2008, the number of those victims who have become organ donors has quadrupled. Partially as a result of the newly available organs from overdose deaths, the list of people waiting for transplants — nearly 124,000 at its peak in 2014 — has begun to shrink for the first time, after 25 years of continuous growth.
posted by Etrigan (10 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
BRB, pitching Slate an article saying that we shouldn't do anything to help opioid abuse because think of all the organ transplant patients.
posted by tobascodagama at 7:24 AM on September 24, 2018 [9 favorites]


well that's...um. an interesting angle on things.
posted by nikaspark at 7:59 AM on September 24, 2018


The wealthy are more likely to be successful at receiving an organ, and presumably wealthier than the donors who died of opioid overdoses. We should be grateful that opioids are playing a key role in allowing the market to efficiently reallocate organs from the poor to the rich.
posted by crazy with stars at 8:18 AM on September 24, 2018 [20 favorites]


I'm overthinking, I guess, but:

"The wealthy are more likely to be successful at receiving an organ"

Right, but that doesn't mean they're the ones that benefit most from an increase in available donor organs.

I mean, take that wealth bias to its logical extreme, and assume people are put in line for organs in order by wealth. The people who would stand to benefit from more organs wouldn't be the ones at the front of the line (who get their organs either way), it would the people at the point in the line where organs are starting to run out. How high up the income distribution that point is depends on how long the line is relative to the number of available organs....
posted by bfields at 8:46 AM on September 24, 2018 [8 favorites]


(But that "wealth bias" *isn't* that extreme, so in reality you're also increasing the chances for wealthy people too; I'm not sure how the numbers work out.)
posted by bfields at 8:51 AM on September 24, 2018


Yes, there's Steve Jobs and Mickey Mantle. But there's also 120,000 or so normal everyday people who happen to be seriously ill are hoping for a transplant someday and most of them are on a single list.

I'm one of them. We are typically are not wealthy. Half of dialysis patients nationwide are on Medicaid. I get disability and a ton of help from my family.

The waiting list for an O+ kidney here in Colorado is currently 7 years or more. Two thirds of dialysis patients die within 5 years, and we can do the math, and we spend those years hooked up on machines that let us live a few more days at a time. That's our reality.

The recipients of organ donations often receive counseling post-surgery because it's not an easy thing to mentally and emotionally connect the balance between another vital human being dying and you having a chance to live. I'm not eager to face that. I would hope that if or when it happens, I'd use my second chance to honor this person and their family the best way that I could. It will probably never be enough.

But by all means, please degrade this article into a conversation about the throngs of jet-setting millionaires out there just waiting to bodysnatch organs from the victims of this horrifying epidemic.
posted by mochapickle at 10:16 AM on September 24, 2018 [35 favorites]


Wealthy people are also able to afford treatments that stave off the need for transplants, too, aren't they?
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:17 AM on September 24, 2018


I wouldn't have assumed the organs of those who passed from overdoses would be suitable for transplant. I guess that's good news?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 12:36 PM on September 24, 2018 [1 favorite]


I would hope that if or when it happens, I'd use my second chance to honor this person and their family the best way that I could. It will probably never be enough.

As the sister of an organ donor, I can unequivocally say that realising that part of my brother was alive in someone, and keeping that someone alive, was a profound moment of joy in the darkness of my grief. Mochapickle, I hope that when you get your kidney, you recognise that you don't owe the family anything but to live a good life for yourself for as long as you can. Living well is the way you honour your donor and their family.
posted by Thella at 1:47 PM on September 24, 2018 [18 favorites]


I'm a recipient of a (living donor) liver transplant. I spent quite a bit of time looking into the options available to me once it became clear that I'd have to have a transplant, and because of that I would caution people against overinterpreting this article.

UNOS tries hard to balance the ethics of the transplant situation. In the case of multiple listings, it's easy to follow their reasoning: if you have the resources necessary to get speedy enough transport to a transplant center, and you are the "next on the list" in terms of urgency and organ compatibility, why shouldn't you be able to receive that organ?

Wealth does not enter into the consideration on whether or not you get on the list for a given geography, or your "place in line" on the list. It just allows you to be on multiple lists. I looked into the possibility of getting on multiple lists, and even of moving to places that have shorter lists, because I live in a place (NYC) where the wait has been particularly bad.

In the end I didn't have to content with the ethics of getting listed elsewhere, because I was lucky enough to have a friend willing to give me part of his liver. To me, the upshot of any article about organ transplant is that everyone needs to check the box to be an organ donor. You don't have to be as incredibly generous as my friend, you just have to give up an organ or several when you're dead. I guarantee you won't miss it!
posted by lackutrol at 10:58 AM on September 25, 2018 [4 favorites]


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