Binge drinker dies at 22

Originally Posted by leedsmatt7

+1000000000000000000000000000000

My best friend died when I was 11 and obviously that kind of thing sticks with you. His organs were offered for transplant and despite his life ending he saved a 6yr old girl who needed a heart and lungs his liver I think it was saved someone else.

Unless it it for religous reasons then please please be a donor.

i'm sorry to hear about your friend, but its about personal choice, not just religious reasons for some.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

I agree with that point.

However, in the case in question, I think it was the right decision not to give him the transplant. I am a little uneasy about the fact the guy was too ill to have the chance to prove he could live without alcohol for 6 months, but in the end I think this rather proves that he would be unable to live without alcohol - by being so dependant he was seriously ill before signing up for AA and seeking help (AFAIK from reports).

He actually only became ill 10 weeks before he died, according to the bbc.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8159813.stm

Originally Posted by keithd

i'm sorry to hear about your friend, but its about personal choice, not just religious reasons for some.

indeed, but its your personal choice I was trying to influence

Originally Posted by Ed

There are naturally some hard decisions here and we are not privy to how they were arrived at.

I can't get away from this lad's age.

But there are much wider implications about how we prioritise resources in a health service with increasing burdens - obesity is said to be becoming a national epidemic, and I do believe that for the first time in many years smoking is on the rise.

Should we deny heart bypass treatment to smokers? Should we turn away people who cannot stop eating? or drinking?

Excellent post, nail on head. The smokers one particularly as they contribute with tax, thus the discussion about *fat tax* on fatty foods. It infuriates me how less fattening foods are more expensive.

[Biker Biggles]

In the real world I would guess that there were several potential candidates for transplant and the clinicians chose the one that was most suitable for the one available liver at the time.His age and lifestyle would have been factors either way,but there was probably another candidate who was expected to have a better outcome.Hence how these decisions are made when there are scarce resources.

What about IVF? In this area, a friend of mine is undergoing it, she will get 2 attempts via the NHS (who also have MUCH worse success rates than private clinics) and then she's on her own. In some areas it's virtually impossible to get on the NHS.

My opinion is it's not an illness, and shouldn't be available, but I wouldn't want to be the one deciding.

Originally Posted by shonadoll

Excellent post, nail on head. The smokers one particularly as they contribute with tax, thus the discussion about *fat tax* on fatty foods. It infuriates me how less fattening foods are more expensive.

Tax revenue doesn't provide "second chance" donor organs though!

[gruntygiggles]

Well, I see this from a few angles. I've seen my aunt become alcohol dependant after her husband killed himself in their car in the garage. She found that when going to the pub after the funeral tp pay them for the catering, the people in there just talked to her normally, not full of sympathy like everyone else and so it became a safe place for her where she could feel normal. Of course after a while, her control went and became very much an alcoholic. My cousins were 8 and 11 at the time. The girl, Ellen died of complications from anorexia aged 16 as some of you will already know. Her organs were failing but when she was admitted to hospital after months of being put on waiting lists by doctors and nothing being done, it was too late. My aunt asked about transplant, but we were all told not to even consider it as an option. She would have needed mulitple transplants, heart, liver, kidney, lung, stomach, diaphragm, small and large intestine, and so on and so on. Her body was shutting down. Two weeks later her stomach ulcer ruptured and so her diaphragm was damaged and she was given emergency surgery. We were told her heart may give up in theatre so to expect the worst. She made it through surgery, but arrested in the recovery and I sat with her there for over an hour before she was taken.

She was 16 and did nothing wrong. Yes, she stopped eating, but that was a mental illness brought on by a father killing himself and an alcoholic mother that she could not help. She was my baby cousin and the most beautiful, shy and sweet little girl, but I would not have wanted to "waste" a healthy organ on her, knowing that by potentially giving her a few more months, someone who could have gone on to have a full life would be denied.

Now.....my auntie is amazingly lucky, now that she has sought help and is no longer alcohol dependant that her liver function is fine. If she was to need a transplant now, I would want her to have one, she has proven she can live without alcohol. However, if she needed one and was still drinking, even I, as her niece and someone that loves her so very much would find it hard to justify her having a liver over someone else that was not likely to abuse it. I don't say that easily. Stretchie will tell you, she is a broken woman and is doing her best to support her son through med school now ans we are all really proud of her, but that doesn't change my views.

Life is so very very precious. Ellen isn't the only young cousin I've lost and so I would support the view that you have to give LIFE the best chance in these situations.
I think that is what the ethics committees do. They try and give LIFE the best chance, whoever the recipient and whatever the problem and I will always support them in that decision.

This young man was IMO very unfortunate. He had no way of proving he could abstain for 6 months, but in that poor health and with currently 259 people in the UK needing liver transplants, I'm pretty sure the decision wasn't made without incredibly careful consideration.

Lets just all try and keep our own bodies healthy and if we are able and willing, donate our organs should we leave this world.

Ellens organs couldn't be donated, but Elly, who was 14 and had a brain haemorrage donated everything but her corneas at my auntie and uncles wish. She saved 4 other lives. They didn't want her beautiful eyes touched, so ........donate what you're happy to donate and don't feel bad or make others feel bad if they don't wish to. Personal choice.

Sorry so long, just an emotive issue and a good one for us to think about from time to time.



http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle6719226.ece

Hmm, interesting. At first I wasn't sure that he didn't have time prior to the hospital admittance (none of the linked articles are clear enough, and the artificial liver transplant made me think it possibly happened before the hospital admittance). However I did a search and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle6721483.ece confirms he didn't know he had problems until he was admitted.

So in a way yes it does seem unfair he wasn't given a chance.

But....on the other hand...everyone knows alcohol abuse is damaging...I find it hard not to consider 9 years of heavy drinking to be a thousand second chances. Second chance doesn't have to mean a liver transplant - it could just mean saving your own.

[Lissa]

I personally don't think he should have been given the liver, but I do think he is a victim of the 'glamour' of alcohol. It seems to be accepted these days that people go out at the weekends, throw as much booze down their necks as possible, and spend the whole two days in an alcoholic haze. You only have to read the 'What are you doing at the weekend' threads on here every week to see 'getting p*ss*d' as an option for a fair few people.