Yesterday a VIP got two transplants from a brain dead man in a Chennai city hospital Tamilnadu. He has officially registered in the transplant registry and was put on wait list. Once a donor was available, he was given the benefit, legally. What is the miracle then? There are many questions unanswered.
- The boy who was poor, met with a road traffic accident in a small town in South and got admitted to a medical college hospital with multiple injuries. It is a medico-legal situation; strangely the parents got him discharged ‘against medical advice’ which is not easy, unless police clears the case to be ‘transferred’ to another bigger hospital with better facilities. In that case he would have been transferred to ‘Chennai medical college super specialty state-of the-art’ hospital. But it didn’t happen that way.
- The boy’s parents take him to the nearby bigger city, from where he was air-lifted by a helicopter air taxi (costing > 100000 INR – how could they afford?) to the corporate hospital at Chennai where the rich political clan VIP was hospitalized.
- In that corporate hospital, he was kept for a short period and declared ‘brain dead’. As per the norms, if a person is brain dead in a hospital, his organs can be donated to a deserving patient in the same hospital as a priority. The transplant registry rule of wait list doesn’t apply here! Now we can understand who is behind all these quick decisions and happenings.
- I would be happy if at least the poor donor soul’s parents were adequately compensated for their noble gesture; but I doubt very much that would have happened.
- What are the violations of legal and ethical issues here? A medico legal case has to be transferred after the police approval only, by the medical college team, which was unlikely in this case, as he was discharged against medical advice. (The case sheet could have been manipulated by the team to suit the recipient’s need). How could a poor man afford an air taxi (bill was in his name) when he brought the patient to a free govt. hospital for treatment first, when there are so any better private facilities nearby? This man’s organs could have been used for patients who were waiting for transplant for longer periods than the VIP, but were denied to get their lives back.
Violations of transplant registry norms are happening everywhere. One rich and influential VIP from my place could do it in USA, by influencing to get to the top of the wait list! VIPs are lucky to be saved by such ‘man made miracles’. Politicians, police and above all, the doctors help such VIPs because of either fear or monetary benefits. Even though a life is saved, I cannot be happy as it was done at the cost of other genuine patients who were waiting! Ethics takes a back seat as it cannot withstand the pressure exerted by VIPs. It is universal.
God save all the other poor souls!
P.S This article can be referred to medical personnel only as it is a good case for ethical discussion!
Kannan M.D. 