Re:foreign visitors having txs in the US?

[Guest guest]

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

[Guest guest]

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