As to guarantees… of course new members are informed, anybody who reads Lifesharers information can see that it is up to the family member/next-of-kin to contact LifeSharers and get a list of members who need organs. It is up to the member to make their wishes known, and impress upon that person or persons how important this is to them. And there are also several ways you can inform your medical doctors, etc… LifeSharers have done as much as is humanly possible for a member to make sure a LifeSharers member gets their organ. But back to guarantees… in this, as in everything, life isn’t perfect, and mistakes will most probably be made. Something like how, even when someone has authorized that they want to be an organ donor, and they are in a state where this is supposed to be the last word on it… they will still ask the family… who often say No…

I am curious Bob… this is a serious question… were you an organ donor before you received your new heart? I’m assuming you are now, since you write so much about organ donation, and how important it is. But I’m curious to know if you were before the transplant.

As for costs to donors, please be aware, despite what Mr. Moi states, many families of donors and/or donor estates have been charged fees directly or indirectly for donating or attempting to donate organs. In September, 2005, a Mesa, Colorado man who had signed a donor card killed himself. He was transported via helicopter to St. Mary’s Hospital in Grand Junction, Colorado and his organs were recovered. The local coroner ruled he was not declared officially dead prior to his organs being removed and the OPO abandoned the organs. The family was charged $7,000.00 for air transportation. Also, a 5 year old boy in Pueblo, Colorado was critically injured in a 2001 motor vehicle accident. His parents were asked to donate his organs. The boy was kept alive until the organ recovery team arrived 3 days later. The fee charged for those 3 days was $30,000.00. The co-pay for those 3 days in the ICU was $6,000.00. These are but 2 examples rebutting Moi’s assertion. There are too many other similar cases to cite here. Want more tales of horrors from the OPO? Google Ruben Navarro, California Donor Network and their organ recovery surgeon, now charged with murder, Dr. Roozrokh.

Remember, no patient has an organ donated to them no matter how critical the medical need. These ‘donated’ organs are sold! The OPO will put lipstick on the pig and respond it is illegal to sell organs in the US. It is for everyone except the OPO. In reviewing the IRS 990 tax records of these so-called nonprofits for 2006, total revenue for all OPO across the country was in excess of $2 billion. As David Kasserman, medical economist, said in his book, “Everyone in transplants make money except the donors and the patients.” Want proof? Go to Denver Post of 10/19/04, Nonprofit executives say salaries justified.

By the way, I am the recipient of a kidney (10/20/04) from an altruistic, non-related, living donor. UNOS attempted to stop my transplant. The question in my mind then was, WHY? After 3 years of research I have found the answer is, MONEY! The unholy alliance of the UNOS/OPTN/OPO had no legal ability to charge for living donor organs. They are trying to change that past prohibition now. Hopefully, an upcoming Congressional investigation will help change the system and put a few people running 501 c 3 organizations related to human organ procurement and other members of the unholy alliance will face the music in federal criminal court.