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Radio 4 prog tonight about High Risk kidney transplants

Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 4:34 pm
by bigbuzzard
"Inside the Ethics Committee"
Radio 4 tonight at 9pm
Or here on the iPlayer for (I think) the next 7 days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b00lpkfb

Joan Bakewell discusses the thorny ethical issues in the real life case of a young woman called Charlotte who needs a kidney transplant.

Since her kidneys failed she has to spend every night attached to a dialysis machine. Dialysis is by no means perfect and her long term outlook is bleak. Doctors do not expect her to be alive in a decade. Her only hope is a kidney transplant from a living donor.

But Charlotte is an extremely high risk patient. She suffers from a severe form of antiphospholipid syndrome or 'sticky blood'. There is a high chance that a transplanted organ will fail if it is transplanted into Charlotte, and she could even lose her life.

Is it ethical to offer Charlotte a kidney transplant? Whether the organ comes from the cadaver waiting list or a live donor, is this the best use of a precious resource when there is a high chance the organ will fail?

Joan Bakewell is joined by a panel of experts to discuss the complex ethical issues arising from the case.

RELATED LINKS
Dr Deborah Bowman (www.sgul.ac.uk)
John Forsythe - Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk)
Fiona Loud - The Kidney Alliance (www.kidneyalliance.org)
BBC News – ‘Missed disease put me at risk’
THE PANEL
Mr John Forsythe, Clinical Director of Transplant Services at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. Past President of the British Transplantation Society and is currently a Council Member of the European Society for Organ Transplantation. He has written and lectured on the ethics of transplants.

Fiona Loud, Chair of The Kidney Alliance. Fiona received a kidney transplant from her husband 3 years ago.

Deborah Bowman, Senior Lecturer in Medical Ethics and Law at St George's Hospital University of London.