Copyright
© 1999 by Michael Segers, All rights
reserved
Here’s
another argument against gambling: a week ago, you could have safely bet a
hundred dollars you would never see an R & R column about excretory organs,
but after the recent news of the kidney auction on eBay, the Internet’s garage
sale, you’d lose your money. While we are chatting about kidneys and the
Internet, of course, we have to mention the infamous kidney theft reported in so
many e-mails over the years. And, to finish up with a little redeeming social
value, let’s look at some myths and truths about organ donation, as well as
information on the Internet.
If
you are reading this column, you are online, and if you are online, you have
probably at some time or other visited eBay, the online auction:
Here,
you can find everything from first editions of Ernest Hemingway’s novels to
politically incorrect cookie jars, from John Wayne autographs to dinosaur
eggs—more than two and a half million items as I am writing this, over a
hundred of them associated with Marlene Dietrich. The site provides a place in
cyberspace for buyers and sellers to find each other, through over one and a
half billion page visits a month, to conduct business based on a large amount of
trust and feedback that sellers and buyers provide about each other.
Then,
there was the human kidney. Bids reached almost six million dollars before eBay
closed the auction. "HardcoreHero," as the person who offered the
kidney was identified, now faces possible prosecution for violation of state
(Florida) and federal laws for what might have been a prank, but then, again,
might not have been. You can get the MSNBC report on the story at:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/307859.asp
The
situation raises a lot of questions about the ethics of selling and buying
organs, about recognizing truth and pranks on the Internet, about living in our
scary new world of technology. As we rove into this weird future of ours, we
have no guidebooks.
This
is not the first time that kidneys have become newsworthy on the Internet. I
don’t know how many times I have received e-mail warnings about travelers
waking up in a tub of ice after a hard night of partying with strangers in a
strange city. There is a warning, sometimes written in lipstick on the mirror,
announcing that the victim’s kidneys have been stolen. No matter how many
times the story is debunked, it keeps cropping up with another setting, another
variation, and before long, another debunking. For example:
http://www.detnews.com/1999/technology/9901/04/01040176.htm
The
New Orleans Police Department prepared an official web page on the topic after
getting so many inquiries about it:
http://www.mardigrasday.com/police1.html
Here
is a great site dedicated to educating people about the real need for organs for
transplants:
A
list of "Top Ten Myths about Donation & Transplantation" begins
with this Internet legend:
http://www.transweb.org/myths/myths.htm
What
they say is worth quoting: "Public Law 98-507 prohibits the sale of human
organs. Second, due to the complexity of transplantation, piracy is practically
impossible. The process of matching donors with recipients, the need for highly
skilled medical professionals to perform the surgery, and the need for modern
medical facilities and support necessary for transplantation make it highly
unlikely that this system could be duplicated in secrecy."
In
fact, this whole list of myths is stimulating and worth your attention. It is
also worth your attention to remind you that although you may not be in much
danger of losing your kidneys if you drink with strangers to the point of
passing out, there are some potential dangers involved in such activity.
And
so, we come at last to the importance of organ donation. There are several sites
that present so many facts and figures that I am going to trust you to rove to
them, so I can spare you my words. Although this first site is specifically
dedicated to kidneys (does this start to sound like an obsession?), it is a
great introduction to the subject of organ donation and transplantation in
general:
The US’s waiting list statistics for organ
transplants have their own eloquence at:
http://www.traders.co.uk/insulintrust/unos.htm
The (North) Carolina Organ Procurement
Agency has some great FAQ’s (Frequently Asked Questions) covering organ
donation and transplantation in the United States, concerns in the
African-American community about organ donation and transplants, and the view of
organ donation and transplantation by various religious groups. By the way, no
mainstream religious group opposes donation and transplantation of organs:
http://www.copanc.org/faqs.html
To get the
facts and some great links from a Georgia site, look at the information from
Emory University at:
http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/MED/SURGERY/transplant/index.html
As
I have said so many times, be very careful in dealing with material that you
find on the Internet, especially medical material. Remember, any Internet
address that includes ".com" is a commercial site. It is in business,
the business of making money. One of the most respected and popular sites for
medical information is the site associated with the former Surgeon-General, Dr.
C. Everett Koop:
Lately,
however, even Dr. Koop, who has been such a leader in health education has come
under criticism for the way his site blends information and advertising. He has
promised to make some changes in the way advertising and information are
distinguished in his site, and it might be worth your time to see just what
those changes will be.
As
you rove the Internet and rave about what you find, always be sure that you know
what you have found. Consider the web site for Global Monetary, which offers a
bold new technology for everyday life, a technology which has attracted a great
deal of interest as well as a great deal of anger:
Now,
consider this article about it:
http://www.urbanlegends.about.com/library/weekly/mcurrent.htm
Which
do you believe? Which can you believe? As you ponder such imponderables, keep
your feet dry, your heart full of noble thoughts, your kidneys where they ought
to be, and your signature on an organ donation card.
Rovin' on the Internet: Online Adventures
Rovin' Through Medical Alternatives