Guest guest Posted January 1, 2007 Report Share Posted January 1, 2007 Irish politics is often bedevilled by corruption - not the only European country of course - Italy and Belgium etc. are near the top of the list. In Ireland a 9 year-long official tribunal has now completed its investigation into the finances of deceased Taoiseach (Prime Minister), Charlie Haughey, known as "The boss." My interest in this concerns a liver tx in the US which was arranged for a former ministerial colleague of Mr. Haughey's, a Mr. Lenihan. "The Tribunal has established that as much as £265,000 (currently about $135,000), may have been collected for the purpose." The costs and expences of the treatment in the US was then about $35,000 and Mr. Haughey pocketed the rest. There are two good liver units in Dublin but it was obviously thought preferably to have the tx in the States. My question is - is it possible for a foreign politician to come to the US for a liver tx and jump the queue (if that's what happened), while Americans may die waiting too long for an organ? I know this question has arisen before in relation to high-profile personalities who seem to have got their liver tx arranged rather quickly. The official situation in the UK is that they would have to wait - along with everybody else. But you always wonder about that. Ivor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2007 Report Share Posted January 1, 2007 pscsupport@... wrote: > > My question is - is it possible for a foreign politician to come to > the US for a liver tx and jump the queue (if that's what happened), > while Americans may die waiting too long for an organ? I don't think this is exactly possible, at least not legally. It would of course be possible (and legal) for someone with plenty of money to select a transplant center in an area of the country that has relatively short waitlists. My question is when was this transplant done? $35,000 sounds awfully low for a transplant, especially given 's report of $214,346 for 's hospital bill! I guess bottom line is that UNOS really doesn't give preference to celebrities etc. but they still tend to have an advantage due to their ability to multi-list as much as they want (they could afford to have a jet on standby for transport if necessary!), and the ability to solicit living donors etc. As in many other areas of life there are real advantages to being rich and/or famous whether even if the " system " isn't skewed in your favour! athan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You are posting as a guest. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.