The Damned World

Please be warned that the article below can be rather disturbing..

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AWAKE during $50,000 China kidney transplant

IN early April, he flew to southern China for kidney transplant surgery.
He paid $52,000 to a hospital there for the donor kidney and the procedure.


The money was scraped together from his savings, and from friends and family.


Mr R Lim didn't want to reveal his real name because what he did is illegal in China, and most other countries, including Singapore. But like other Singaporeans before him, he took a desperate gamble on the overseas surgery because the alternative, he said, was too painful.


Every year, the National Organ Transplant Unit receives requests for the removal of 20 to 30 patients from the waiting list for kidneys.
Reason: These patients have received transplants overseas.
Three or four liver transplant patients also go off the list every year for the same reason, the Ministry of Health said. These people do it despite the very real risks involved in getting a transplant overseas. But Mr Lim, 33, said he was desperate. 'I couldn't work or live a normal life,' he said.


He was diagnosed with a kidney condition at the age of 13. Then, about two years ago, his kidneys failed. Since then, three times a week, he had to be hooked up to a dialysis machine.
He was also in and out of hospital every two months. Mr Lim felt he could not make it through nine years of dialysis before a donor kidney would become available. That's the average waiting time here for a donor kidney.


Said the polytechnic graduate who has his own business: 'During the two years of dialysis, my veins would collapse after a few months and doctors would have to find new ones in order for me to continue having dialysis. 'It was very tiring and very scary for my family members.' In one emergency operation to find a vein, nothing in his hand or chest could work, so one in his neck had to be opened up, he said.


Dialysis also made him very tired. He needed to sleep for three to four hours after each session.
The cost of dialysis and hospital stays were heavy burdens for him and his family, despite a subsidy from the National Kidney Foundation. He was paying about $500 a month for the dialysis. Together with medications and hospital stays, he was paying about $10,000 a year to treat his condition.


Then, last year, a friend told him about a relative who had gone for a successful transplant in China. 'I spoke to my friend's uncle who said there is this doctor in China who had so far operated on more than 30 Singaporean patients. 'All of them are doing very well, with no complications,' he claimed. Still, his family was reluctant.


'There had been negative reports of people who had gone to China for transplants and come back with Hepatitis C infections or the Aids virus.' But none of his family members were suitable to give him one of their kidneys. So, in the end, they reluctantly agreed to the overseas transplant.


'My friend's uncle recommended me to the surgeon. I did my tests and sent the results to the surgeon so that he could match me up with a donor,' he said. Late last year, he flew to China to see the surgeon. 'I had to have a check-up there so that the surgeon would have a clear picture of what it would be like to operate on me,' he said. The hospital was very 'advanced', he claimed.
And because Singaporean patients pay more, everything used was new, he said.


'They brought it to me all wrapped up, so that I would know it was all brand new,' he said.
Mr Lim also saw the operation theatre and was satisfied with it. After his check-up, he returned to Singapore to wait. 'The surgeon said he would operate only when there was a very good match for me,' said Mr Lim.


Days, weeks, then a month, and another slipped by. Mr Lim became increasingly anxious.
Then the call came - the surgeon said he had found a match. 'I flew back there with my mother and sister. I had to undergo intensive dialysis three times to get rid of as much toxins as possible before the operation,' he said. He was told that the kidney would come either from someone willing to trade it for money or from an executed convict.


On the day of the operation, he was wheeled into the operating theatre and given local anaesthesia. Mr Lim said the surgeon operating on him was the most senior one in the hospital.
'He was very, very fast. He cut me open in the front and I could feel him pushing aside my intestines. 'In 1 1/2hours, it was over. I had my donor kidney inside me,' he said. 'It wasn't very painful, but I grunted a bit as I felt the surgeon pushing and tugging inside me. The anaesthetist told me to keep quiet,' he added.


Half an hour after his operation was completed, he started to pass urine normally, a sensation he had not felt for many months as his kidneys deteriorated. 'Usually, with cadaveric donor kidneys, it's not that fast, as it takes a while for the donor kidney to 'wake up'. 'But with my donor kidney, my ability to pass urine again came very fast,' he said.


But around midnight, he developed a mild shock syndrome and started shivering.
'The surgeon came back to the hospital. He said the shock could be due to contaminated equipment or an allergy to medications. 'He said it was the first time he had seen something like that. But he managed to stabilise me within three hours,' he said.


Mr Lim stayed in the hospital for two weeks, and as soon as he arrived back here, he went to the A&E department at Singapore General Hospital, as instructed by the surgeon there.


An SGH spokesman confirmed that the hospital does see such patients.
Mr Lim was screened, and said he was given the all clear.


'Since then, I have been very well. I can live my life normally again, without needles and dialysis,' he said.

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I saw this article from the newpaper i thought i share it with people who patronize this blog. On this same day i came across another article relating to organs.

This post you are reading can be dry for some people but i really appreciate your patience and readership.
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London hospital caught in liver transplant scandal

THE hospital is now facing an investigation. It had ignored the needs of 400 British citizens and instead gave the liver to private Greek and Cypriot patients

The National Health Services Blood and Transplant (NHSBT), the health authority in charge of transplant services in Britain, decided to refer the King's situation to health watchdogs following a board meeting on Thursday.

In a statement, it said: 'The board was presented with information about the unusually high number of non-UK EU residents who received liver transplants at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust between 2003 and 2007.'

PROBE LAUNCHED
The Healthcare Commission watchdog announced its inquiry into King's after the alleged scandal was raised by the Mail on Sunday.

Surgeons led by Professor Nigel Heaton, who attracted controversy over his decision to give a transplant to alcoholic football star George Best, are paid about £pounds;20,000 ($54,000) for each operation they carry out the transplant.

The Evening Standard reported that the hospital has struck a deal with the Greek and Cypriot governments to treat the patients privately.

Senior medical sources have revealed that King's earns around £pounds;85,000 per operation, from which the surgeon's fee is deducted.

Between January 2003 and December 2007, 111 liver transplants were carried out across the country on European Union patients from outside Britain, of which 72 were conducted by the six liver surgeons at King's.

Of those 72 patients, 47 were from Greece and Cyprus.
There is a desperate shortage of donor organs in Britain. At least 400 people in this country are waiting for a new liver - 20 per cent of whom will die before a suitable organ can be found.
The shortage has become so acute that British PM Gordon Brown has called for the introduction of 'presumed consent' - everyone would be considered a potential donor at death unless an objection had been registered in advance.

Under current laws, residents of any European Union country are able to travel to other member states for medical treatment and have the cost reimbursed by their own health service.
But some hospitals refuse to consider non-UK patients for transplant because they believe organs donated in the UK should be reserved primarily for British nationals.

The situation at King's is causing deep concern within the medical profession and among patients.
Ms Ingrid Shillito, a director of the British Liver Trust charity, said: 'The sad truth is there aren't enough livers donated to give seriously ill people a second chance of life.

'It would be very wrong for financial matters to influence these difficult decisions, for patients to buy their way to the top of the list.

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Some people are born healthy and never understand how it is like for people with handicaps. There are people who even view handicaps in contempt. The first article totally open and widen my eyes on how difficult it is for people with disability.

Recently i also watched a japanese serial entitled "1 litre of tears" or "Ichi Rittoru no Namida" which is a story of a healthy girl that inherited Spinocerebellar degeneration - a terrible disease where the cerebellum of the brain gradually deteriorates to the point where the victim cannot walk, speak, write, or eat. The story showed the whole process of her from healthy until she is bedridden and because viewers watched this, they will feel really depressed with her when she expressed her hardship of wanting to do something so simple and touching.

I strongly recommend this serial which is based on a novel followed closely to a diary written by the girl after her illness starts to have significant effect on her.

Dedicated to Extraordinary people in this world.