Transplant demand too much for organ donors

By MARTIN JOHNSTON health reporter

While many agree with the life-giving idea of donating hearts, kidneys and other organs, research shows some think it is better to receive than to give.

A survey of more than 1000 people found almost 75 per cent would be willing to have their organs donated after their death, while 80 per cent said they would agree to receive a transplanted organ if they needed one.

The research was done for this week's Organ Donor Awareness Campaign, which is aimed at encouraging more people to consider becoming a donor, something fewer than half those surveyed had done.

Lynda Bartz of Matamata says her liver transplant operation last December transformed her situation.

"It's just given me a normal life again," the 41-year-old mother of four said yesterday.

After the mid-1998 crisis point in her liver disease - caused by a slowly worsening blood vessel disorder, haemorrhagic telangiectasia - fatigue forced her to mostly stay at home and to often use a wheelchair while shopping.

"I couldn't run the house at all. On a good day I could prepare the evening meal ... I would shower myself and rest most of the day.

"Now I'm running the house and even doing a bit of house painting."

Not all transplant patients are as fortunate. Hans van der Schrieck had three kidney transplants from 1984 to 1993. Rejection problems meant the longest any survived was three months.

The 59-year-old said he had put great faith in the first transplant so its failure was traumatic. He was now happy with regular sessions at home on a kidney dialysis machine.

Auckland Hospital transplant surgeon Professor Stephen Munn says the average life of a transplanted kidney is 12 to 15 years in New Zealand. It is not known precisely how long other organs survive, but it is longer for hearts and livers.

The highest number of kidney transplants in one person here is five, and that patient, a man, is "doing great."

Around 400 New Zealanders are waiting for organs. Last year 39 people became organ donors after they had died. Our 10.2 donors in every one million people is near the bottom of a list for Western countries.

A transplant donor coordinator, Janice Langlands, said that if organ donation had not been discussed with family it was not uncommon for them to refuse, possibly for cultural or religious reasons, or over unfounded fears of disfigurement.

Apart from live-donor transplants, organs were removed only from people on ventilators in intensive-care units after their brains had died - "naturally a very traumatic time for family members."

"A lot of people think that if they have it on their driver's licence that decision is final but in reality medical professionals would never go ahead with organ donation unless the family was in agreement."