Cornea Transplant System Broken

[waldo]

Sadly, one of the contributing factors to the shortage of donor tissues and organs is Canada's low donor rate:

thankfully... we can just sit back and watch you implode... even more! You've been bit, once again, by one of those contributors you so wanted to over-emphasize and offer as a/the principal rationalization in discussing the "American Health Disadvantage" - i.e., life-style, risk aversion, reckless choices, etc.,... as you emphasized, American "freedom".

you choose to limit your narrow short-sighted net-prowls to your easy cut&paste exercises - given the number of times you've been bit, one would think you might actually invest a few cycles in analysis before throwing down your next "ta da"!

what your linked article doesn't bother to differentiate is how organ/tissue rates are calculated in the U.S./Spain versus Canada. Canada's figures only include completed transplants - actual donated tissue/organs transplanted. U.S./Spain rates include non-transplant numbers. When considering actual donor transplants, those transplant procedures completed, the ratio for Canada is 3.2 organs transplanted per donor... for the U.S., 3.0 per donor... and for Spain, 2.6 per donor.

your linked article also fails to differentiate a most significant factor - that of presumed consent! Spain has a presumed consent practice/law... organs/tissues will always be donated unless a contributor/source has formally "opted out". In the U.S., only 20 states have signed on to the latest 2007 iteration of the U.S. Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA)... in Canada, a donor/family members speaking on behalf of the donor must formally give consent.

your biggest fail is relying on a cut&paste that doesn't factor your (claimed) country's freedom... expressed in increased U.S. mortality figures! When considering the main causes associated with cadaver donations, Canada has a relatively low mortality rate relative to Spain and the United States: for example, Canada's age standardized per year road death rate is 101 road deaths/million population... Spain's rate is 142 road deaths/million... the U.S. rate is 156 road deaths/million. Equally, Canada's age standardized per year mortality rate due to gunshot wounds is 35 gunshot deaths/million population... the U.S. rate is 126 gunshot deaths/million population. Apparently, not having as many cadavers available just might be a contributor to donor rates - go figure!!!

how does your "sadly" summation fit in your Canadian to U.S./Spain comparisons... when you don't bother to recognize key differentiation factors... like actual donors-to-actual transplants, like consent, like mortality rates, hey? Of course, non of this addresses considerations of country differences in demographics, socio-economic factors, etc. Clearly, it's much easier for a cut&paste connoisseur. like you, to ignore all that in dropping your latest "sadly" summation, right?

but it gets even better... rather worse... for your lame-assed cut&paste effort: "sadly"... per the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, in the United States, 117,546 people are currently waiting for an organ... "sadly", 18 people will die in the U.S. each day waiting for an organ.

"sadly"... a trend is showing through here relative to the significantly increasing U.S. wait list versus number of donors:

keep trying, lil' buddy... keep trying!

.

[bush_cheney2004]

Sadly, the organ donation rate in Canada is flat or declining...not improving despite outreach programs. This translates into more deaths and higher health care costs:

The deceased donor rate decreased to 13.6 donors per million population

in 2010 compared with 14.0 in 2006.

The majority of people waiting for a transplant need a kidney. Among
this group, the average time spent on dialysis was 3.7 years. Patients
with an available living donor were on dialysis for just under 1.5
years.

The wait time has "substantial cost implications," CIHI said. The
institute estimated it costs about $60,000 for hemodialysis per patient
per year compared with $23,000 for a kidney transplant plus $6,000 a
year for medications.

"Over a five-year period, a transplant is therefore approximately
$250,000 cheaper per patient than dialysis while improving quality of
life."

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/organ-donation-rates-flat-164829698.html

We do get an unexpected clue as to why fewer Canadians are organ/tissue donors: some Canadians think that their universal system has less incentive to keep them alive and might be too enthusiastic to harvest organs (despite the logical error in such thinking).

"Some people worry," she said. "They wonder, if I have an organ donor
card, will every effort be made to save my life, or if they want me as
an organ donor. People fear that."

http://www.gfwadvertiser.ca/News/2012-03-18/article-2929364/Canadian-organ-donation-rates-not-high/1

Edited March 26, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[waldo]

Sadly, the organ donation rate in Canada is flat or declining...not improving despite outreach programs. This translates into more deaths and higher health care costs:

more of your cut&paste gems... while you close your eyes, plug your ears and shout 'la la la la la la'!!!

"sadly"... per the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, in the United States, 117,546 people are currently waiting for an organ... "sadly", 18 people will die in the U.S. each day waiting for an organ.

"sadly"... a trend is showing through here relative to the significantly increasing U.S. wait list versus number of donors:

.

Edited March 26, 2013 by waldo

[bush_cheney2004]

The sadness continues for Global Nephrology.....why are Canada's provinces so poorly organized for such vital health care services ? What is really going on here (err...there) ???

“Canada — unlike the United States and most
European countries — has no centralized, national list for people desperate for
a new organ, in effect putting geography ahead of need. And that long wait can be deadly. In
the first half of 2011, 20 of the 36 Canadians who died while waiting for a
transplanted kidney were from Ontario — more than all the other provinces
combined. In 2010, another 80 Canadians passed away, 34 of them from Ontario.”

Sher points out that Canada also has the lowest organ donor
rate in the Western world at 15 donors per million inhabitants, half the rate
in the U.S. and many European countries. This is true although Australia comes
in at bottom at 11 donors per million inhabitants according to statistics from
the International Registry of Organ Donation and Transplantation

http://www.thekidneydoctor.org/2012/02/global-nephrology-system-of-organ.html-

Edited March 26, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[waldo]

The sadness continues

yes - your sadness continues. Apparently, your sadness doesn't extend to a concern over the 18 Americans dying each day while waiting on American donor wait lists. Your sadness continues in avoiding acknowledging your sorry assed charade was exposed, once again. You can continue to try to ignore my earlier reply. I'll just keep quoting from it - re-quoting it. Have another extract:

"sadly"... per the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, in the United States, 117,546 people are currently waiting for an organ... "sadly", 18 people will die in the U.S. each day waiting for an organ.

"sadly"... a trend is showing through here relative to the significantly increasing U.S. wait list versus number of donors:

.

[bush_cheney2004]

The broader donation picture for blood, grafts, and other tissues in Canada remains sad....how long can the U.S. system provide such imports when its own needs are growing ?? Why don't more Canadians donate ??????

Canada's organ donation system is failing patients, and the solutions
include having registries in each province and depending less on the
United States for tissue, a new report says.

...Of particular concern is tissue donation - transplants of corneas and
heart valves, grafts of bone and skin - said the report, obtained by The
Globe and Mail, noting "Canada imports approximately 80 per cent of its
tissue product - a dependency that could pose risks to Canadian
patients."

..."Tissue production in Canada is limited by the number of donors, the
capacity to recover tissue and the focus on meeting only local needs,"
the report said. "As a result, end-users across Canada cannot
consistently rely on their tissue banks to have the type, quantity and
quality of tissue product they need."

Edited March 26, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[waldo]

hey... I can go all day! You can continue to ignore the following post... I'll simply replay it over and over again! Don't you care about the 18 Americans dying every day on your (claimed) country's organ waiting list? Don't you care about the ever-increasing organ wait list trend? Don't you care about the ~118,000 Americans currently waiting... as you say, why would Americans have to wait? As you say, why don't Americans donate... more?

Sadly, one of the contributing factors to the shortage of donor tissues and organs is Canada's low donor rate:

thankfully... we can just sit back and watch you implode... even more! You've been bit, once again, by one of those contributors you so wanted to over-emphasize and offer as a/the principal rationalization in discussing the "American Health Disadvantage" - i.e., life-style, risk aversion, reckless choices, etc.,... as you emphasized, American "freedom".

you choose to limit your narrow short-sighted net-prowls to your easy cut&paste exercises - given the number of times you've been bit, one would think you might actually invest a few cycles in analysis before throwing down your next "ta da"!

what your linked article doesn't bother to differentiate is how organ/tissue rates are calculated in the U.S./Spain versus Canada. Canada's figures only include completed transplants - actual donated tissue/organs transplanted. U.S./Spain rates include non-transplant numbers. When considering actual donor transplants, those transplant procedures completed, the ratio for Canada is 3.2 organs transplanted per donor... for the U.S., 3.0 per donor... and for Spain, 2.6 per donor.

your linked article also fails to differentiate a most significant factor - that of presumed consent! Spain has a presumed consent practice/law... organs/tissues will always be donated unless a contributor/source has formally "opted out". In the U.S., only 20 states have signed on to the latest 2007 iteration of the U.S. Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA)... in Canada, a donor/family members speaking on behalf of the donor must formally give consent.

your biggest fail is relying on a cut&paste that doesn't factor your (claimed) country's freedom... expressed in increased U.S. mortality figures! When considering the main causes associated with cadaver donations, Canada has a relatively low mortality rate relative to Spain and the United States: for example, Canada's age standardized per year road death rate is 101 road deaths/million population... Spain's rate is 142 road deaths/million... the U.S. rate is 156 road deaths/million. Equally, Canada's age standardized per year mortality rate due to gunshot wounds is 35 gunshot deaths/million population... the U.S. rate is 126 gunshot deaths/million population. Apparently, not having as many cadavers available just might be a contributor to donor rates - go figure!!!

how does your "sadly" summation fit in your Canadian to U.S./Spain comparisons... when you don't bother to recognize key differentiation factors... like actual donors-to-actual transplants, like consent, like mortality rates, hey? Of course, non of this addresses considerations of country differences in demographics, socio-economic factors, etc. Clearly, it's much easier for a cut&paste connoisseur. like you, to ignore all that in dropping your latest "sadly" summation, right?

but it gets even better... rather worse... for your lame-assed cut&paste effort: "sadly"... per the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, in the United States, 117,546 people are currently waiting for an organ... "sadly", 18 people will die in the U.S. each day waiting for an organ.

"sadly"... a trend is showing through here relative to the significantly increasing U.S. wait list versus number of donors:



keep trying, lil' buddy... keep trying!
.
.

[bush_cheney2004]

Now it just gets weird, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We know about swine parts, but you better guard your dog and cat too:

Canada considers harvesting animal tissue for human transplant.

Issue #1: Is xenotransplantation needed?

Xenotransplantation is the transfer of living cells, tissues or organs
from one animal species to another for medical purposes. We use the term
here to refer to animal-to-human transplants. The transplanted material
is called a xenotransplant.

The need for organs in Canada is expected to increase by almost 200 percent by 2020.

http://www.cpha.ca/en/activities/xeno/background.aspx

Edited March 26, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[waldo]

Now it just gets weird, but desperate times call for desperate measures. We know about swine parts, but you better guard your dog and cat too:

I guess when it reaches the formal level of U.S. FDA guidelines one might assume you'd show a more reserved position relative to your (claimed) countries related practices... guidelines all the way back to 1999, 2000, 2001...

[bush_cheney2004]

Quebec rightfully toots its own horn relative to corneal transplant performance and efforts to fix the broken "system":

Quebec cornea transplant system most efficient in country

...A CBC investigation into corneal transplant wait times and eye
banking across the country has revealed the system is largely a
dysfunctional patchwork of services, despite the existence of an
already-developed Canadian Blood Services plan that, experts say, could
eliminate corneal blindness in six months.

“It is sad. It is sad for the patients who are not living well who
could be living much better if they were able to see and be more
comfortable. It is sad because it's a process that actually can be
undertaken anywhere else in the rest of the provinces just like
Héma-Québec did for Quebec,” said Dr. Mona Dagher, an ophthalmologist
with the University of Montreal hospital centre (CHUM).

http://canada.onlinenigeria.com/montreal/60744-quebec-cornea-transplant-system-most-efficient-in-country.html

[waldo]

good to see you're still failing by playing off false-equivalencies while continuing to ignore the waitlist and deaths per day (on that waitlist) of your (claimed) country's organ/tissue donor-transplant system.

further to an extract of my earlier reply - the one you steadfastly refuse to even acknowledge:

what your linked article doesn't bother to differentiate is how organ/tissue rates are calculated in the U.S./Spain versus Canada. Canada's figures only include completed transplants - actual donated tissue/organs transplanted. U.S./Spain rates include non-transplant numbers. When considering actual donor transplants, those transplant procedures completed, the ratio for Canada is 3.2 organs transplanted per donor... for the U.S., 3.0 per donor... and for Spain, 2.6 per donor.

of course, the rate calculation difference is amplified when recognizing the percentage of U.S. donor organs discarded per the following graphic... again, Canada's rate calculation presumes upon completed transplant procedures! A key acknowledgement and related directive from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services speaks to the inherent inefficiencies within the U.S. donor transplant system... that within the U.S. many organs that are recovered for transplant are not used - that relief from the U.S. organ shortage may be possible by focusing efforts on minimizing the number of discarded organs recovered for transplant:

.

[bush_cheney2004]

Canada imports about 80% of tissues and organs, mostly from the U.S.A., which has a much better organized and financed system of registration, harvesting, and transportation. Without American sources, Canada's blood banks, transplants, grafting, and other tissue related services would collapse. A true case of blood for oil !

Canadian Blood Services has recognized the obvious gaps and seeks to make changes:

Canadian Blood Services urges revamp of organ donor system

Canada's organ donation system is failing patients, and the solutions
include having registries in each province and depending less on the
United States for tissue, a new report says.

...The number of patients requiring organs is climbing. Last year, 4,529
Canadians, including 1,515 in Ontario, were waiting for transplants,
according to the Canadian Organ Replacement Register. A total of 2,153
organs were transplanted and 247 people died waiting.

Many on the waiting lists require kidneys - about 3,300 last year - a
reality that Steve Dembicky, 54, of Mississauga, Ont., knows all too
well. He has been on dialysis for the past four years, which is so
tiring that he often has to rest for an afternoon to rebuild his energy.

"The thing I miss is being able to go away," said Mr. Dembicky, who
has to restrict his diet and the amount of fluids he can drink. "My
entire life is built around my medical treatment."

He has been told the average wait time for a kidney match with his

blood type is five to seven years.

The waits are also lengthy for those awaiting tissue transplants, 80
per cent of which are obtained through the United States. The report
said this dependency could put Canadian patients at risk if demand
exceeds supply.

"Tissue production in Canada is limited by the number of donors, the
capacity to recover tissue and the focus on meeting only local needs,"
the report said. "As a result, end-users across Canada cannot
consistently rely on their tissue banks to have the type, quantity and
quality of tissue product they need."

Edited March 27, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[waldo]

Canada imports about 80% of tissues and organs, mostly from the U.S.A., which has a much better organized and financed system of registration, harvesting, and transportation. Without American sources, Canada's blood banks, transplants, grafting, and other tissue related services would collapse. A true case of blood for oil !

... and you didn't supply your link because the actual article you're referencing pre-dates your OP "concern" and speaks to the 80% in terms of "tissues" - so, of course, you take your standard liberty and extend that to include "organs". The rest is just your bellicose! As for your emphasized concern for ~4500 Canadians on a years long wait list... for ~250 Canadians who died while waiting on that years long wait list, apparently, as stated now several times, your trumped up concern doesn't extend to your (claimed) country: per updated daily adjustments, ~118,000 Americans are currently on the existing to-date American wait list... ~18 Americans are dying each day while on that existing to-date American wait list:

I've already addressed the shortage of organs/tissues for transplant in the U.S.... in the immediate preceding post (that you're also ignoring) I spoke to a significant inefficiency within your (claimed) country's system - a mismatch between a shortage of organs and those being discarded without being used.

as I said, you can keep ignoring my posts... you can keep showcasing your petty, trolling efforts - I'm more than content to simply reply the posts you refuse to acknowledge.

The sadness continues

yes - your sadness continues. Apparently, your sadness doesn't extend to a concern over the 18 Americans dying each day while waiting on American donor wait lists. Your sadness continues in avoiding acknowledging your sorry assed charade was exposed, once again. You can continue to try to ignore my earlier reply. I'll just keep quoting from it - re-quoting it. Have another extract:

"sadly"... per the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, in the United States, 117,546 people are currently waiting for an organ... "sadly", 18 people will die in the U.S. each day waiting for an organ.

"sadly"... a trend is showing through here relative to the significantly increasing U.S. wait list versus number of donors:

.

[bush_cheney2004]

A relatively recent (2010) Ipsos Reid poll provides some insight into why tissue and organ donation is in its present (dismal) state (Canada). Interestingly, the lack of a nationwide (perhaps this concept is foreign to Canadians) program of organ and tissue donation may work against transplant objectives because the majority feel that all Canadians should have equal access to donated organs and tissues. This would make the creation of such a national resource more important.

http://www.bloodservices.ca/CentreApps/Internet/UW_V502_MainEngine.nsf/resources/Releases/$file/IPSOS+Report.pdf

The export of organs and tissues from the U.S. to Canada is only possible because of a successful nationwide system of registration and harvesting upon donor death. Provincial barriers and existing foreign supply may be inhibiting the formation of a more successful donor program, one that could satisfy Canada's needs.

Edited March 27, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[waldo]

The export of organs and tissues from the U.S. to Canada is only possible because of a successful nationwide system of registration and harvesting upon donor death. Provincial barriers and existing foreign supply may be inhibiting the formation of a more successful donor program, one that could satisfy Canada's needs.

no - in your ongoing effort to deny reality, the U.S. system is not your touted model of success and efficiency. It's most admirable processing intent aside, the U.S. system is not meeting demand and hasn't historically. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has had to bring forward multiple ongoing initiatives, year over year, to attempt to bridge the gap between donors and required transplant recipients... attempting to better the processing and working relationships between U.S. State level Organ Donor Registration Networks and local organ procurement organizations (OPOs). Again - not meeting demand... ~118,000 Americans currently on a wait list... ~18 Americans dying daily while waiting

.

[bush_cheney2004]

Canada "system" is stuck in neutral when it comes to corneal transplants. The idea of "waiting lists" has become a permanent fixture in provinces even for the most common transplant surgery in North America and Europe:

CBC Radio: Cornea shortage - Part 2

...we told you about the waiting list for corneas in Alberta and how one
Edmonton eye doctor wants the province to get them from the United
States. Eye banks south of the border have a surplus of the tissue.
There's a shortage here in Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/Radio/Local+Shows/Alberta/ID/2254768908/?page=28&sort=MostRecent

[Bonam]

It seems kind of obvious as society gets safer and life expectancy gets longer, that there will be a shortage of organs in general. From my understanding, organs generally need to be harvested from people that die not at a very old age while their organs are still healthy, that is, car accident victims, shooting victims, etc. And the people that need organs are generally people who have aged and whose organs are failing. More and more people are living longer and longer and needing more and more medical procedures late in life, while fewer and fewer people are dying from violence and accidents while their organs are young and healthy and ready for transplant. As these trends continue, wait lists will invariably develop and grow, regardless of the methods of financing and organizing organ transplant systems.

As always, the only real solution is technological progress, the ability to create/grow the needed organ replacements artificially, rather than getting them from a human donor. Fortunately, this is rapidly becoming possible with more and more kinds of transplants.

[bush_cheney2004]

.....As always, the only real solution is technological progress, the ability to create/grow the needed organ replacements artificially, rather than getting them from a human donor. Fortunately, this is rapidly becoming possible with more and more kinds of transplants.

Agreed, as there are several technical advances that will yield more tissues and organs for transplantation, including prolonged storage after harvesting from donors. Pressure is also building to break down objections to compensated donation and presumed consent (opt out) as was done in Spain, propelling that country's donor rates to the top of the list. There is already an existing black market in human organ/tissue products driven by cash payments, so this illegal activity could be better regulated if sanctioned by a legal/ethical framework.

[waldo]

It seems kind of obvious as society gets safer and life expectancy gets longer, that there will be a shortage of organs in general. From my understanding, organs generally need to be harvested from people that die not at a very old age while their organs are still healthy, that is, car accident victims, shooting victims, etc. And the people that need organs are generally people who have aged and whose organs are failing. More and more people are living longer and longer and needing more and more medical procedures late in life, while fewer and fewer people are dying from violence and accidents while their organs are young and healthy and ready for transplant. As these trends continue, wait lists will invariably develop and grow, regardless of the methods of financing and organizing organ transplant systems.

yes - as I identified earlier, mortality rates are a factor... as I stated, the high U.S. mortality rate naturally brings forward greater numbers of donated organs as compared to Canada... e.g., gun violence, motor-vehicle accidents, risk adverse life-style choices all contribute to a higher U.S. organ donor rate. As for the aging population consideration, a practical transplant age constraint will always hold the need down to a measured point; one subject to cost vs. the degree of life enhancing/sustaining possible. Equally, at some point, need will diminish as the boomers all die off and the lower birth rate takes hold.

As always, the only real solution is technological progress, the ability to create/grow the needed organ replacements artificially, rather than getting them from a human donor. Fortunately, this is rapidly becoming possible with more and more kinds of transplants.

my recent days googly forays to counter the idiocy of BC_2004 has afforded me some insight into 'regenerative medicine'... I read of examples of successful lab generation and transplants back as far as 2001. The obvious question - why hasn't this progressed further? Well, ethics enters for one as some of the focus was/is on stem cells... equally, the whole 'human cloning' concern gets raised. But, to me, cost seems to be the overriding factor. Even as it stands, the very high U.S. wait list still only accounts for ~7000 American deaths a year for those unable to realize a transplant while waiting on the list... even if you doubled or tripled that rate of deaths per year, it's still a relatively insignificant number of deaths as compared to all manner of other deaths. That insignificant number gets balanced out against diminishing budgets and the regenerative medicine costs (research, testing, trials, implementation, deployment, etc.).

as for the suggestion of shifting to an 'opt out' donor policy, how would that ever fly in the U.S.? That country is so tightly wound over anything that hints at any suggestion of removing any degree of personal liberty/control... couple that with probable ties to a government run system administering 'presumed donor consent' and you'll see the U.S. right-wing/Teebaggers implode!

[bush_cheney2004]

...as for the suggestion of shifting to an 'opt out' donor policy, how would that ever fly in the U.S.? That country is so tightly wound over anything that hints at any suggestion of removing any degree of personal liberty/control... couple that with probable ties to a government run system administering 'presumed donor consent' and you'll see the U.S. right-wing/Teebaggers implode!

...and yet the U.S. has a much higher voluntary donor rate than Canada, to the point of being able to export blood products, tissue, and organs to Canada (80 % imported).

[waldo]

as for the suggestion of shifting to an 'opt out' donor policy, how would that ever fly in the U.S.? That country is so tightly wound over anything that hints at any suggestion of removing any degree of personal liberty/control... couple that with probable ties to a government run system administering 'presumed donor consent' and you'll see the U.S. right-wing/Teebaggers implode!

...and yet the U.S. has a much higher voluntary donor rate than Canada

as follows, an extract from my earlier post... speaks to considerations of rate comparisons!

what your linked article doesn't bother to differentiate is how organ/tissue rates are calculated in the U.S./Spain versus Canada. Canada's figures only include completed transplants - actual donated tissue/organs transplanted. U.S./Spain rates include non-transplant numbers. When considering actual donor transplants, those transplant procedures completed, the ratio for Canada is 3.2 organs transplanted per donor... for the U.S., 3.0 per donor... and for Spain, 2.6 per donor.

your linked article also fails to differentiate a most significant factor - that of presumed consent! Spain has a presumed consent practice/law... organs/tissues will always be donated unless a contributor/source has formally "opted out". In the U.S., only 20 states have signed on to the latest 2007 iteration of the U.S. Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA)... in Canada, a donor/family members speaking on behalf of the donor must formally give consent.

your biggest fail is relying on a cut&paste that doesn't factor your (claimed) country's freedom... expressed in increased U.S. mortality figures! When considering the main causes associated with cadaver donations, Canada has a relatively low mortality rate relative to Spain and the United States: for example, Canada's age standardized per year road death rate is 101 road deaths/million population... Spain's rate is 142 road deaths/million... the U.S. rate is 156 road deaths/million. Equally, Canada's age standardized per year mortality rate due to gunshot wounds is 35 gunshot deaths/million population... the U.S. rate is 126 gunshot deaths/million population. Apparently, not having as many cadavers available just might be a contributor to donor rates - go figure!!!

how does your "sadly" summation fit in your Canadian to U.S./Spain comparisons... when you don't bother to recognize key differentiation factors... like actual donors-to-actual transplants, like consent, like mortality rates, hey? Of course, non of this addresses considerations of country differences in demographics, socio-economic factors, etc. Clearly, it's much easier for a cut&paste connoisseur. like you, to ignore all that in dropping your latest "sadly" summation, right?

[bush_cheney2004]

More of the same twisting and turning when faced with the inescapable:

The....United...States...exports....tissue....and....organs....to.....Canada....without....which...provincial....transplant...surgeries...would....collapse.

As reported by Canada's state sponsored, financed, and controlled CBC media outlet, the "system" is broken.

[waldo]

More of the same twisting and turning when faced with the inescapable:

The....United...States...exports....tissue....and....organs....to.....Canada....without....which...provincial....transplant...surgeries...would....collapse.

As reported by Canada's state sponsored, financed, and controlled CBC media outlet, the "system" is broken.

the only twisting and turning is yours... as you continue to ignore all the facts/figures thrown at you. Your personal insecurity and sensitivity forces you to deny the state of your own (claimed) country's organ donor system. Does Canada import "something" from the U.S. - apparently so, although I can't find anything to suggest, with certainty, the what and how much is being imported. You threw down a quote that said "80% tissues and organs"... and you didn't link to your referenced quote. Of course, I found your Globe&Mail article that spoke to 80% tissue imports (so, of course, you took liberties in extending that to organs)... equally, the Globe article said nothing about where those imports came from... and it didn't source it's own numbers. Why would any of that give pause to a cut&paste connoisseur, like you - hey?

[bush_cheney2004]

Then forget about the G&M and go to Canada's state sponsored, financed, and controlled media outlet...the CBC, which echoes the same dismal donor system statistics.

Reasons we lag behind other countries

The reasons that Canada lags behind other countries are many and varied, said Sher.

"Why have some Canadians who have consented to be organ and tissue
donors not been provided the opportunity to donate?" he asked. "Because
their family wasn't asked? There were not enough intensive-care beds or
operating room time? Or because it wasn't simple enough to confirm their
donor status?

"Why are some people living with blindness today because they can't
get access to a corneal transplant? The lack of co-ordination in eye and
tissue banking results in inconsistent approaches to quality ... and an
insufficient supply of tissues with widespread inefficiencies across
the health system."

Sher said more than 80 per cent of tissues — such as bones, tendons,
skin and heart valves — transplanted into Canadians come from the United
States. If implemented, the strategic plan would also aim to improve
tissue donations within Canada to reduce dependency on fluctuating
foreign sources, he said.

Canada trails several other industrialized countries in organ
donation rates. Spain and the United States, for instance, have organ
donor rates at least double that of Canada.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/06/20/organ-donation.html

Edited March 29, 2013 by bush_cheney2004

[waldo]

Then forget about the G&M

thanks for confirming I was correct... clearly you took several liberties with that Globe article you "conveniently" failed to link to. So... tissues only then hey... not organs. Any type of Canadian deaths and related numbers you'd like to attribute to tissue transplants... while you continue to ignore my repeated references to the ~18 Americans dying daily waiting for transplants in the U.S.?