Smoke, 2nd Hand Smoke...What would this be?

[Dave]

So this British soldier gets a disease that causes him to have issues breathing. He's told that he needs a double lung transplant, which he gets. Turns out the lungs are from a heavy smoker (2 1/2 packs a day) who had died of other causes. Less than 1 year later the soldier is dead from lung cancer.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/10/12/soldier.lung.cancer.transplant/index.html

So...How fucked up does this seem to everyone else? I mean, he probably would have died earlier due to the original disease, but now his remaining year was filled with chemo and even more pain.

Thoughts?

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

Seems like a fucked up mistake by whoever was screening that organ donation. But as everyone's bound to make a mistake now and then, I'm rather "meh" about that aspect of the story.

It's gotta suck for the dude's family. They get this hope that he might get better and then it's taken away.

 

[Dave]

"Using lungs from donors who have smoked in the past is not unusual. During 2008/09 146 lung transplants were carried out in the UK.

"During the same period 84 people died on the waiting list. If we had a policy that said we did not use the lungs of those who had smoked, then the number of lung transplants carried out would have been significantly lower."

Been done a lot, apparently.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

oh. Well then. It's a sort of acceptable risk policy, then, eh? I guess them's the breaks for the dude, then.

Still, totally sucks for the family.

 

[strawman]

Well, I suspect that if he was given the choices:

1. Get working lungs now from a smoker (might lead to cancer)
2. Stay on waiting list just hoping that someone healthier dies that happens to match you

He might have gone with 1 even if he was aware of and able to make that decision.

Still, it presents an above normal risk because the immuno-suppressant drugs needed for life after transplant greatly reduce the body's ability to fight cancer.

It's a double edged sword though. People who take risks with their health probably do die at a younger age than those that are more careful, so there may be a slight bias to less healthy organs in transplant cases.

-Adam

 

[doomdragon6]

To answer your question, it would be "hand-me-down smoke" :3

 

[Sparhawk]

The inquest found a radiologist failed to highlight the growth of a cancerous tumor on the donor lungs.

According to the article, the soldier was given lungs that already had a cancerous growth in them.