Questions are being raised about the case of a 36-year-old Ontario woman who died of liver failure after she was rejected for a life-saving liver transplant after a medical review highlighted her prior alcohol use.
I didn’t like the cost section, because it felt simplistic. The actual procedure might be “cheaper”, but it doesn’t take into account the long term costs if something goes wrong with the “cheaper” option. Living liver donation is different from say a kidney, you’re taking a part of someone else’s liver.
“The sicker someone is, the more they benefit from getting an entire liver from a deceased donor, as opposed to part of the liver from a living donor,” said Dr. Saumya Jayakumar, a liver specialist in Edmonton and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta.
“On the off chance their (living) liver doesn’t work, they urgently get listed for a deceased donor,” said Jayakumar. "We need to make sure that everyone who is a candidate for a living donor is also a candidate for a donor graft as well, " she added.
I worry people are going to see those numbers and run with them, even though there’s more to consider than that. Financial calculations in medicine are always difficult, and it feels dirty no matter what
The article is not clear. Is the $71k price listed the cost of the surgery itself or surgery + hospital stay?
If it is just surgery then it is a very unfair comparison since the ICU stay would have been needed in either case, and at least some of the days in the ward for recovery.
So some rough numbers I found from places online for rough estimates. Also, the link the article has for bed costs is actually to a study on liver transplant costs.
Plus two surgeries - the article only takes an average cost of liver transplants, which is not indicative of a second surgery needed for a living donor transplant.
That puts the cost up to ~240,000-300,000. That cost is close enough that I can see it not being a factor for the decision.
I didn’t like the cost section, because it felt simplistic. The actual procedure might be “cheaper”, but it doesn’t take into account the long term costs if something goes wrong with the “cheaper” option. Living liver donation is different from say a kidney, you’re taking a part of someone else’s liver.
I worry people are going to see those numbers and run with them, even though there’s more to consider than that. Financial calculations in medicine are always difficult, and it feels dirty no matter what
The article is not clear. Is the $71k price listed the cost of the surgery itself or surgery + hospital stay?
If it is just surgery then it is a very unfair comparison since the ICU stay would have been needed in either case, and at least some of the days in the ward for recovery.
Plus living donation means the donatee needs recovery time and a bed as well.
So some rough numbers I found from places online for rough estimates. Also, the link the article has for bed costs is actually to a study on liver transplant costs.
On average, 25 days in hospital between pre/post transplant. Of that, seems like a few days (varies by person) is in ICU. So thats 50 days of beds for the two of them, with say a week of combined ICU time.
Plus two surgeries - the article only takes an average cost of liver transplants, which is not indicative of a second surgery needed for a living donor transplant.
That puts the cost up to ~240,000-300,000. That cost is close enough that I can see it not being a factor for the decision.