The organ transplant system in this country is running into serious problems because like everything else, people now believe it’s their right to have a transplant. The right of entitlement is evident in the October 2008 issue of 5280 Magazine article titled, “The Crusader.”

After describing their profiler, Bob Hickey, as a bleeding heart liberal and crusader at Toronto’s first abortion clinic in 1964 (not sure what any of that had to do with the topic of organ donation); they go on to describe everything that is wrong with the organ transplant system in this country. Never mind that Bob Hickey got his kidney. He found it on-line from a donor at MatchingDonors.com.

There used to be something called survival of the fittest; which is admittedly a little harsh. People with terminal illness need hope. Organ donation brought hope for those people who had a genetic defect, or had overcome alcoholism. But according to the article, people should be allowed to get their kidneys wherever they want to, and should be allowed to pay for them. And the OPO’S (Organ Procurement Organizations) doing the transplants shouldn’t be charging for them because, if I can’t make money selling my kidney then they shouldn’t be able to make a profit from transplanting it. I’m not sure what’s so offensive about charging for a service. How does that logic work? Why is this service any different? Because the number of people needing kidneys and number of people receiving kidneys is so far apart. “Of the roughly 80,000 people needing kidneys each year, fewer than 17,000 will receive one (5280, Oct.08, Caudron).”

The goal of Bob Hickey is to get UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) shut down. Is there a bureaucracy within the transplant system? Of course, it’s a billion dollar a year non-profit industry. But we don’t shut down bureaucracies for one very good reason; they provide us something we need.

Although there are issues with the organ donation system in the U.S. at least we have a system that we can be critical of. At least we can advocate for ourselves or our loved one who needs an organ. Bob Hickey said that no one told him the rules of the game [organ transplant]. Life is about navigating a course and learning how to play the game, the strong will play it and the weak won’t. Perhaps that’s the full circle of survival of the fittest in organ donation. It might not be fair, but tell me something within our health care system that is.