 |
|
|
|
June 18th, 2013
01:41 PM ET
Will Facebook’s organ donor success stick?It seems we often hear of another patient who has been desperately waiting for a transplant that could save his or her life. Earlier this month it was a 10-year-old girl in Pennsylvania hoping for a new set of lungs. Before that it was Molly Pearce, who needs four organ transplants to survive. In September a man walked the streets of his South Carolina town asking strangers for a kidney for his wife. More than 118,000 people in the United States are currently awaiting organ donations, according to OrganDonor.gov; 18 of them die each day without a donation. Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg is hoping to change that with the power of the world’s largest social networking site. On May 1, 2012, Facebook launched an initiative aimed at encouraging more people to register as organ donors. On the first day of the initiative, there were 13,012 new online donor registrations across the 44 states the study authors analyzed; that’s a 21.2-fold increase over the usual daily registration of 616. Over the next two weeks, the number of new donors each day declined, although levels still remained above normal. The total number of new registrations during the study period reached nearly 40,000. Even though 40,000 is less than 0.1% of Facebook’s users, the study authors say the impact may have a ripple effect that could save lives. The theory is that sharing your organ donor status online will remind others to sign up, who will in turn encourage their friends to do the same. “This ‘chronic vitality’ may give the Facebook organ donor initiative a chance of sustained impact that other previous media campaigns have lacked,” the authors write. The real question is whether the elevated levels will stick. Was the initial boost really due to Facebook’s social media prowess? Or was it due to the media attention the site received in the days surrounding the initiative launch? And will the effort eventually result in more organ donations? Only time will tell, the study authors say. To join the social media campaign, visit your Facebook profile page and click “Life Event.” Doing so brings up a drop-down menu where you can select “Health & Wellness” and then “Organ Donor...” That will direct you to your state’s organ donation registry and allow you to post a story to your timeline about when and why you decided to become a donor. New transplant technology keeps organs ‘alive’ outside the body |
  About this blog
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.
 |
|
|
|
I am all for more donors, so more people can be offered organs.
What I am not for is manipulating waitlists, developed by healthcare professionals who look out for the best interests of all patients on that list given the scarcity of the resource, because 1 set of parents and 1 set of congress people allow it. If those parents and congresspeople are cool telling the person who got bumped in person that they fixed it so their daughter got an organ but another person didn't, well by all means...
Just to clarify, that little girl wasn't given preferential treatment beyond being put on the adult list. No one was really "bumped" per se.... no more so than if an adult was added to the list because they also need a donation. The injunction moved her from the pediatric list (under 12) to the adult list (over 12). Once there, her "score" was calculated just like anyone else on the list and her place on the list was determined based on merit, just like with anyone else. She didn't bump anyone who wouldn't have been bumped if an adult (with the same score as her) was added to the recipient list.
However, I do agree with you that the federal government bending to the whim of the parents, just because they happened to get some media attention, is absolutely ridiculous. A board of transplant surgeons made these regulations, and then updated them in 2005 (less than 10 years ago); it is not the government's place to make rulings in medicine, especially when those making the decisions have no qualification in the medical field.
What the government should do is make organ donation an "opt-out" policy. Make it so that everybody is automatically registered as an organ donor and if they genuinely don't want to be (for whatever reason), then they can opt out. From my experience, sheer laziness is the biggest reason why people don't sign up as organ donors. The majority of people seem to have the mentality that if they die, they have no need for the organs anyway, but they don't want to take the time to register. If everyone is automatically classified as an organ donor, then those with apathy towards it will benefit society without having to put in any of their time and effort and those who feel strongly enough against it, will just have to fill out a form.
How did all these people just do DECIDE to put in the effort to sign up. Was it simply a status or was there some sort of bridge involved to make the process easier. I just don't see hundreds of thousands of people doing if it took too many clicks.
What's Facebook?
Molly Pearce passed away on June 8th still waiting for organs.
Great story!
It’s amazing to see results like this coming from Facebook. I’ve been unfortunate enough to have a family member on the wrong side of a waiting list. It’s a thing I wouldn’t wish on anyone. And I'm terribly sorry to hear about Molly, I wish her family the best.
Unbelievable…Wow… My friend Lynn has just married to a handsome black man.
They met through ~~ MixêdMàtchìng. ℂom~~Here is the best, largest and most successful black&white dating site for black and white singles seeking interracial relationships, friendships, dating ,love and more.. You can meet (lawyers,busy professionals, benefactors. models, celebrities, etc….). If you are single ,have a try.
Anytime you see people taking the initiative to help others, it's excellent news (I wish I saw more like it).
Unfortunately, continuous growth not likely sustainable when social media is involved in the process. It's a losing battle though, organ donation, waiting lists, etc. Why is no one speaking about organ regeneration yet?
Unfortunately growth like that is not sustainable when social media, and Facebook specifically are involved. I’m still far more curious to see where organ regeneration might lead.
Glad someone else is on the same page, Roger.
Found an interesting article on Wired that really gives a nice breakdown on the relationship between stem cells and organ regeneration into perspective: http://bit.ly/11nKfVF
Like this article, it paints a great portrait of the promise of organ regeneration.
Thanks for sharing Ron. I certainly hope this era comes sooner than later.
As do I. The day we can close that gap is the day we can save millions of lives and not have to put millions through the torment of those waiting lists.
Incredibly interesting and relevant. @Ron, I've also found that Kevin Xu's columns offer a great amount of insight into the state of the stem cell industry. His weekly posts are very worth keeping an eye on.
Have to echo the sentiment. Great find Ron. Thank you for helping spread a highly informative post.
Isn't MEBO International the company that has claimed to have the patent on organ regeneration?
I am cured from herpes with his herbal Med! I feel so much happy for being so empathetic and helpful to me, ! His website is (( https://robinbuckler. com )) or (( robinsonbuckler11 @gmail. com )) ...He restored my relationship with his love spell
DIABETES,
URINARY TRACT INFECTION,
ERECTILE DYSFUNCTION/INFERTILITY
SIMPLEX HERPES AND GENITAL,...
COLD SORE
Hello! I could have sworn I've been to this website before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it's new to me. Nonetheless, I'm definitely happy I found it and I'll be book-marking and checking back often!
http://www.froleprotrem.com/
I see something truly interesting about your weblog so I saved to bookmarks.
http://www.zortilonrel.com/
I wanted to post you that little bit of observation to be able to thank you very much again with your splendid secrets you have shared on this website. It was particularly open-handed with you to convey publicly all that most of us would've advertised for an e-book to get some cash for their own end, chiefly given that you might have tried it if you ever decided. The tactics in addition acted as a easy way to be sure that the rest have similar zeal much like my personal own to find out lots more in respect of this condition. I think there are many more pleasant periods up front for people who discover your blog.
https://g.page/fokuszpalyazat
761562 475594very good day, your website is really unquie. Anways, i do appreciate your work 96487
155893 262984Water-resistant our wales in advance of when numerous planking. The particular wales surely are a selection of heavy duty snowboards that this height ones would be the same in principle as a new shell planking having said that with significantly more height to assist you thrust outward in the evening planking. planking 459491
This blog is definitely rather handy since I’m at the moment creating an internet floral website – although I am only starting out therefore it’s really fairly small, nothing like this site. Can link to a few of the posts here as they are quite. Thanks much. Zoey Olsen
http://www.zortilonrel.com/
689986 138005Sweet internet internet site , super pattern , really clean and utilize friendly . 898776
151062 739741Im glad to become a visitor in this pure web site, regards for this rare info! 381710