Is it wrong of me that I wonder why a perfectly good heart was wasted on an elderly war criminal?

[jorno67]

Surely there are people out there who aren't responsible for so much hate, pain, and death who could've used a new heart.

Are there no standards in place? Or did he buy a donor?

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. The people matching the organ to the

Person who gets it have no idea who either is. This is not just protocol but law.

He was at the upper end of even being able to be on the list. But the team doing the match did not know. This is by law.

[Duer 157099]

4. Well, as long as it was law...

because, you know, laws never get broken by people with lots of money.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. Organ trading is a severe crime

And that is one of those things that s actually followed. He was on the list an average ammount of time.

My problem is that a 70 something should not even qualify.

[barbtries]

19. i figure due to timing,

people who want to find out have an excellent chance of doing so. but i don't know how many transplants are performed on a daily or weekly basis. aren't the principals told the age and sex of the others as well?

[goclark]

2. What happened to that man he shot?

I can't recall all the details but I'm sure he didn't pay a dime ~

[niyad]

6. the man apologized to HIM

[mazzarro]

17. Yes indeed - he apologized for stepping in front of Cheney -- n/t

[Sarah Ibarruri]

3. Sickening, isn't it? nt

[Duer 157099]

5. If wondering that is wrong, I don't want to be right

seems that could be a song

[man4allcats]

7. He bought a transplant committee just as other rich people with

failed organs have. If you have enough cash, there are ways to circumvent the system. As is always the case in Amerika, the law is for sale.

[pnwmom]

8. I think they should give priority to younger people

or people who have a better chance of living longer with the donor heart.

[man4allcats]

9. It's always been a business, but nowadays they don't even maintain the pretexts.

They used to have some standards. Today though, it's all about cash.

[dixiegrrrrl]

24. In contrast, the elderly in Japan are eating radioactive rice

to support the rice farmers, so the Japanese children can have clean rice.
Remember that story????

[pnwmom]

33. Yeah. While here, of course,

we have guaranteed health care for everyone over 65 but nobody else.

Hmmm . . .

[EmeraldCityGrl]

10. After a certain age transplants are no longer available

as an option. I don't know what that age is, but surely cheney is close.

[Tanelorn]

11. The donor did 'die' didn't they

[Raine]

12. In a word ... NO ... you're not wrong nt

[citizen blues]

13. For me it's not so much who he is as it is how old he is......

A couple transplant websites have said the maximum age is typically 65, but there are places that will go up to 70. Cheney was 71. It's just another indication of this man's ego.

In stark contrast, my father was offered a heart/lung transplant at 60 and declined it because he felt that if the organs became available, they should put them in a 20 year old....someone who hadn't had a chance at life yet.

I guess Cheney isn't wanting to "meet his maker." After all his crimes, he has good reason to be afraid.

[renate]

36. wow... that's breathtakingly noble

Your father obviously had an incredible heart... even if the physical one was damaged. What an amazing person.

[Monk06]

14. I heard it took four orderlies to hold the heart down so the surgeon could stitch it in....

it escaped twice and hid under the operating table.

[pinboy3niner]

16. The heart's screaming was so disturbing...

...that Wikileaks burned the tape.

[Redneck Democrat]

15. That's an excellent way of framing the issue

I wish I'd thought of it myself!

[barbtries]

18. if it's wrong of you,

i'm wrong too. also galled that it was performed on my dime. also feeling keenly sorry for the donor's loved ones, that their loved one's heart was put into such an undeserving person.

[DLevine]

20. I don't know if it's wrong or not...

...but I feel the same way you do. Nothing against the elderly (being old myself), but I feel like when there is a shortage of hearts, younger folks should get priority. Just my own opinion. And although Cheney was never convicted of war crimes, to my mind there is no doubt he is a war criminal.

[janet118]

21. People will be burning their organ donor cards in protest.

Where are these "death panels" when you really need them?

[Honeycombe8]

22. What are you talking about? nt

[zanana1]

23. No. When my 25 year-old friend died....

Because he had to wait too long for a heart, I can't stand to see this monster get a new heart. I do hope it works better than the last one and turns him into a human being, but I doubt it. I'm turning 60 on April 4 and I'll be past the cutoff age for one. but that doesn't bother me. I understand why there is a cutoff age. There are millions of young people out there with many productive years ahead of them who need hearts. I think this one is being wasted.

[Greybnk48]

25. My card will be changed and two of my kids said the same.

I have never felt like this before. I'm furious.

[etherealtruth]

26. Eleven years ago ...

... my 21 year old cousin died waiting for a heart. (he had contracted viral endocarditis four years earlier)

I realize that matching a heart is very difficult ... I do, however, wonder how many young people were bypassed in order for a 71 year old (even ignoring the war criminal part) to receive the organ.

[COLGATE4]

27. You can be damned sure

that there are a lot of them.

[etherealtruth]

32. Oh, I am positive

An even more disturbing thought is how many folk without health insurance aren't even on the 'lists"?

It is sickening!

[malaise]

28. Not in the least

He won't last long anyway - a complete waste of a good heart

[Avalux]

29. The organ donor system doesn't screen based on morality.

It's a tough one for me to wrap my head around too and as much as Cheney is not deserving of a new heart, can't exclude him based on that.

Doesn't mean his acquisition of a heart was completely by the book; although he was the list for almost two years; a fairly long time to live with an external heart pump.

Maybe the heart will reject him. Or (and I like to think this) - the heart was from a peace-loving honest person and Cheney will be compelled to confess everything or else go mad.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

30. It's not wrong, but look at it this way...

The hospital wanted to be able to brag about it.

I mean, those doctors managed to place a perfectly good heart into a homunculus that never had one to begin with. Hopefully the Smithsonian will be given whatever it was that they found in his chest for future alchemists to study. That may allow them to not make anymore like Cheney in the future.

[Rex]

34. You are witnessing the plutocracy in action and it upsets you.

Perfectly good reaction imo.

[Nye Bevan]

35. Should people who have been convicted of felonies be ineligible for transplants?

How about people who have never been convicted of anything, but someone on an internet message board has accused them of something?

Perhaps an internet popularity poll should be conducted on anyone on the waiting list, to decide who gets to go first?

[jorno67]

37. for me its the combo of evil and age...

you can argue all you want if Cheney is evil or not...I say he is. But you cant get around the fact that he's 71 fucking years old. so that heart will be useful for another 10 - 15 years tops (given his overall health) so wouldn't such a gift been better suited for a 31 year old? It just seems like another crime to me.

[Jennicut]

38. I wish people understood that organ matching is very complex.

It has to do with HLA antigens (tissue matching) and blood type matching then anything else. A 25 year old on the list may not match the right heart that happens to be available at that moment while a 71 year old can. They are performing transplants on people up to 72 these days as people are living longer and are able to handle organ donation better.
HLA antigens are pretty fascinating to me, being a type 1 diabetic. If you have certain antigens you are more likely to get certain auto-immune diseases. Also, having immunity to someone else's HLA antigens can lead to instant rejection of an organ. HLAs are like protein markers on our genes.

"If the patient has antibodies to the donor organ HLA, the organ will be injured and this is referred to as a "positive crossmatch". A positive crossmatch is a contraindication to transplant, since it signifies that the patient has the ability to destroy the donor's cells, and would, most likely destroy the donor's implanted kidney (organ). Therefore, we hope that the crossmatch result will be negative. A negative crossmatch indicates that the patient does not have the HLA antibody against that particular donor, and a transplant can be performed." http://bioweb.wku.edu/courses/Biol115/Wyatt/Anatomy/Digestion/Transplant/Transplant1.htm

And the blood types need to match. Type O's can donate to any other blood type but can only receive organs from other Type O's.

The more I looked into it, the more I decided to become an organ donor recently. I can't donate a kidney while alive, can't give bone marrow and can give blood only if I don't use bovine insulin (I never have). But I can donate some of my organs if they are still holding up when I die.