Organ donation is not charged, but the transplantation of 600,000, where does the money go? Secret details of the charges

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A. Why do we need anesthesia for organ donation?

Once a doctor said in the body donation, will give the donor anesthetic, which makes many people doubt in the removal of organs, the body is not still alive or there is still feeling, the fact is how it is?

First, it is important to understand what organ donation is. Organ donation refers to the unfortunate death of a person according to the wishes of the family or the person's own will, its functioning organs in the form of gratuitous donation to patients in need, so that patients can continue life.

Most of the time, organ donation needs to be carried out in the donor's "dead" state, where death is mainly divided into two cases, one is brain death, that is, the brain has been unable to supply blood normally, but the heart is still beating, the organs are still functioning normally, and the human body is in a relatively stable state; the other is heart death, the doctor has been able to find out that the donor's organs are not functioning properly. death of the donor, the doctor has announced to give up treatment.

So why is anesthesia required for cadaveric organ donation if you're already dead, does your body still feel pain after death?

Some studies have found that human death is divided into several stages, people just died, part of the nervous system may not have stopped working, the brain still exists subconsciously, in order to avoid the donor to suffer secondary pain, so the doctor will be playing anesthesia before taking the organ.

Second, why don't you pay for organ donation, but hundreds of thousands of dollars for transplantation?

According to China's organ donation regulations: in addition to charging the surgical costs of removing and implanting organs, the costs of preserving and transporting the organs, and the costs of medicines, tests and medical equipment arising from the implantation of organs, medical institutions engaged in human organ transplantation shall not charge or disguise the costs of the transplanted human organs.

The documentary "World on Earth 2: Breathe" has an episode about pneumoconiotics, whose lungs are so badly damaged due to long hours of work in dusty environments that they can only rely on ventilators to support their lives, with lung transplants being their only hope.

Lung transplants are extremely difficult, one of the most difficult surgeries in organ transplantation, and the hospital that does the most lung transplants in China is the Wuxi People's Hospital, where the average cost of a lung transplant is about 600,000 dollars.

To this many people are puzzled, why is organ donation free, but transplantation costs hundreds of thousands of dollars? Where exactly is this money spent? Specifically, it is mainly spent on the following three aspects:

One is the patient's hospitalization costs, including examination fees, bed fees, surgical fees, treatment costs, as well as nursing care drugs and so on, such as lung transplants commonly used in artificial lungs (ECMO), the opening of the start-up costs of 60,000, and need about 5,000 yuan per hour.

The second is the cost of organ procurement, including the cost of organ harvesting, processing, preservation and transportation. For example, the uw fluid used to preserve organs costs thousands of dollars for a small bag, and many bags are needed each time.

Third is the cost of post-operative treatment, which often requires patients to be admitted to ICU wards for observation, as well as the cost of a series of anti-rejection treatments, with anti-rejection drugs costing at least 30,000 to 40,000 yuan a year.

The public has always been very concerned about the cost of organ transplants, and while the fees are nothing to sneeze at, the high costs have deterred patients from needing organ transplants from ordinary families, and even patients who have been matched with a suitable organ source have given up on the surgery.

How to stop ordinary patients from losing their only chance of survival because of the cost is indeed a problem that needs to be thought about and solved.

Three: Why can't donors and recipients, for the rest of their lives, meet?

The medical documentary "The World on Earth" mentions that donors and recipients cannot meet each other, which is difficult for many viewers to understand.

At present, whether it is international practice or China's current policy, the organ donation process adopts the "double-blind principle", which means that both the donor and the recipient are unaware of each other's information, and this is also done to avoid problems.

First of all, it reduces the pressure on the recipients. In the case of Princess Diana's organ donation in the United Kingdom, for example, the organs she donated brought hope to eight patients. Recipients are mostly the general public, and the double-blind policy can avoid giving recipients the psychological burden of having Princess Diana's organs in their bodies.

Secondly, to curb human evil. From the perspective of both sides, the double-blind policy can avoid the patient being asked for money by the donor, and can also circumvent the donor from being asked again by the recipient to donate.

Finally, to eliminate organ trafficking from the source, the double-blind policy can circumvent the behavior of donors asking for money from recipients, and avoid going against the original intention of donation.

But some experts believe that China's national conditions are different, and should not be completely adhere to the "double-blind principle", under the principle of voluntariness, should be encouraged to meet with relatives of the two sides, which is conducive to the development of positive energy to promote the development of organ donation.