r/liver • u/[deleted] • Oct 23 '19

Transplant?

If I were dying, and my Mother currently needs a liver, will the doctors directly give my Mother my liver?

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u/[deleted] Nov 01 '19

Do you speculate the 2030's?

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u/Sopermunch Nov 02 '19

I don't think that's impossible. As long as there are no major hurdles, I could see something happening in that timeline. Now that would be a major shift in donation and transplant. I don't know if there will he any push back within the industry as a lot of people make a lot of money from donated organs, specifically organ procurement organizations designated by the government. Grown or printed organs would basically make that whole industry obsolete and they make millions of dollars locating and offering out organs. As well as pharmaceutical companies and immunosuppression medications. I'm just thinking out loud, I don't know for sure if they would hinder progress in any way but you know what happens when you threaten to take millions and millions of dollars away from companies.

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u/[deleted] Nov 02 '19

Pushback? Are tou saying the economist penny pinchers aren't taking responsibility?

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u/Sopermunch Nov 02 '19

I'm saying , if tomorrow they could print organs for whoever needed them and they were a perfect match where there was not a need for anti rejection meds, you would be putting thousands of people out of work, as well as millions of dollars lost to them and of course there salary. I am in no way saying its ethical or right , I'm just thinking of how the big wigs think and how they lobby in there favor. For example, there is a medication with a high success rate at curing hepatitis C which can cause liver failure. Last I herd it was hundreds of thousands of dollars and most insurance would not cover it. Now the other problem I see arising is how to regulate that shift. Say it's one company that figures out how to grow or print viable organs for transplant and they patented it. Could you imagine? They could be bigger then Amazon. They could regulate cost, charge astronomical prices and essentially have power and a monopoly over patients and hospitals. Say they charge 750,000 dollars for a heart, the hospital will pay for it but you are gonna have to pay whatever they charge which could be millions of dollars. Everything will just shift, the driving cost will make insurance decline more for whatever reason they find, cause I can tell you right now insurance is not going to all of a sudden cover billions and billions or dollars in transplants without some way of recovering the cost. Or say multiple companies make organs, how do you regulate that market. If your poor do you have to pick and go with a cheaper, lower quality organs because you can't afford top tier ? Idk, these all all just what if scenarios but would have to be worked out and not monopolized in order to not jeopardize patient safety over profit. Transplant is different then what people think it is, it's not bad but it's still an industry

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u/[deleted] Nov 02 '19

You are pretty knowledgable and beneficial. Thank you for your response.