The donor got $10k, though he had an agreement for $30k. The donor and recipient both lost big time on that deal, but the doctors and dealers did just fine. Of course, the $145k isn't an outrageous number for that kind of surgery, I'd guess it'd cost considerably more in the US. It'd also be done better, though, I can't see even the harshest US HMO shipping a patient home in a day or two after that kind of operation.
On the other hand, the Iraqi operation described at the end of the article sounded much better. A local note on the general issue: My home state is maybe the national leader in percentage donor agreements or per-capita donations or something. There was some local discontent when the national waiting list thing was put into effect, as the locally high donation percentage gave no advantage local recipients. Quite a provincial argument, I know, but the current program doesn't give much incentive to promote donations either. |
