Americans are Changing the Way Organ Donations and Transplantations are Done
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The demand for organ donors far outpaces the supply. In America, more than 92,000 people need organ donations right now. Each week 100 people die just waiting. To meet some of that demand, last year 7,000 living people donated their organs. CNN's health correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more on how religion is driving one group to donations.</s>ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: Kathleen Sampson is in the middle of surgery, to remove her left kidney and give it to a complete stranger, out of the goodness of her heart. Kathleen has never met this man. But they have something in common. Barry Mendez is also doing something most of us would never dream of. Giving a kidney to someone he doesn't know. But Barry's inspiration is different from Kathleen's.</s>BARRY MENDEZ, JESUS CHRISTIANS: It's a comic about Jesus. It's the Gospel of John in picture form.</s>COHEN: He's a member of a religious group where most of the members have given kidneys. His case and others like it raise a question -- is the need for organs so desperate that hospitals and doctors will take donors they shouldn't? Barry and his group, the Jesus Christians, travel the world in trailers, preaching the gospel.</s>MENDEZ: We're just a bunch of Christians who just live together like -- like the early Christians did.</s>COHEN: Out of the 28 Jesus Christians worldwide, 15 have given kidneys. In Australia, where the group was founded, the government for the state of Victoria is so suspicious of the Jesus Christians they've been banned from donating to strangers.</s>MENDEZ: I've done something to help someone and that is the message of love basically that what from my understanding was what Jesus was trying to teach us.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, to a bizarre cult targeting young Australians.</s>COHEN: The Australian press refers to the Jesus Christian as the kidney cult. Charging that leader David McKay coerces members into donating like he did in 2003.</s>DAVID MCKAY, FOUNDER, JESUS CHRISTIANS: I've considered it a privilege and I've been fighting and struggling to get in there, into the queue and get it over with, you know, so I can, I can feel that satisfaction, that if I died afterwards that at least somebody is going to live on with my kidney.</s>COHEN: McKay says the Jesus Christians are not a cult and he's never coerced any of them into donating a kidney.</s>DONNA LUEBKE, UNITED NETWORK FOR ORGAN SHARING: I think there needs to be an investigation into what centers are doing those surgeries and to really look at the coercive nature of that cult or that religion, whatever you want to call it. But it really concerns me that these surgeons know who they are and are still doing these surgeries.</s>WHITFIELD: And be sure to catch more of Elizabeth Cohen's report on "CNN PRESENTS" Body Parts, it airs tonight, 8:00 eastern, 5:00 pacific. And if you miss it at 8:00, you can watch the encore presentation on Sunday, same time. The wait for a healthy organ can sometimes be a long one, so long that many people are now turning to the internet to jump the line and that's stirring some controversy. Dr. Bill Lloyd joins us now to talk about the issue. And before we talk about the online options, let's talk about the traditional routes that people generally take to try to get registered to get an organ.</s>DR. BILL LLOYD, SURGEON: Sure, Fredricka. You know right now there's 92,000 Americans that are waiting for an organ transplant. When a doctor decides that a patient needs a new heart, a new lung, a new liver, whatever, they're referred to a transplant center, a local hospital, where doctors screen the patients and determine whether or not that person is a good candidate for organ transplantation to receive that organ. If so, their name is put on a list, and sent to a national database that we call U-N-O-S. The United Network for Organ Sharing. And it's that database that controls who does and who does not get an organ transplantation.</s>WHITFIELD: And, so now that there are other options available, online, people can go to a couple of different websites out there to inquire about how they get on the list. How is that interfering with or working with this United Network of Organ Sharing?</s>LLOYD: Yeah, it's a parallel system. We call it direct solicitation. You know, Fredricka, for every four organ transplants, three are handled by UNOS but one out of four is handled through direct solicitation, where somebody who knows somebody else arranges to give their organ. Now there are some people who don't like the idea of direct solicitation, because they're worried about the possibility of money changing hands. They also say it's unjust. Other people are waiting in line for an organ and I got mine by going to a website. It may be wasteful, because these websites don't screen the candidates. Are you, in fact, healthy enough to get an organ transplant? Again, issues relating to commercialization and what about informed consent? Are these people online getting the real story about the proposed benefits, the risks and the alternatives for organ transplantation? The internet will never replace face time with a real doctor.</s>WHITFIELD: And so I wonder where the ethical issues lie if this means that some medical personnel are saying, wait a minute, we want to go the traditional route by UNOS instead of using an organ that may have been purchased via website or anything else.</s>LLOYD: We'll never be able to cover this entire debate in three or four minutes Fredricka.</s>WHITFIELD: But we try.</s>LLOYD: Some powerful ethicists have actually said, wait a minute, maybe it's time to reconsider the way we do things, because if somebody is willing out of the blue to volunteer an organ, that automatically increases the numbers of donors and by taking your name off the list, that shortens the waits for other people. Fredricka, this is 2006. We buy airplanes different -- airplane tickets differently now, we get our news differently now, we even shop differently. Why can't we get someone to donate an organ differently than the way it was done 20 years ago? It can still be maintained in an anonymous fashion so there's no pressure from one person to the other to, hey, why won't you help me get that organ? And there's the opportunity for actually expanded oversight to make sure again that there's no issues relating to money changing hands or other improprieties for people who are willing out of the blue to donate a kidney or other organ.</s>WHITFIELD: Wow. Well something tells me we are at the tip of the iceberg on this issue. Dr. Bill Lloyd thank you so much.</s>LLOYD: We'll talk again soon.</s>WHITFIELD: Alright. Well it is hard to believe, but back in the 70s, the United States actually helped Iran with their nuclear technology, but times were different then, and the Shah was in charge. Well next, a closer look at Iran and its quest for nuclear knowledge.</s>ELLEN MCGIRT, SENIOR WRITER, FORTUNE: Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director for Jazz at Lincoln Center. But really he's a national treasure. It's really Wynton's personality that drives everything that he does. Wynton Marsalis does not do email, he really is a personal guy. He'll get on the phone if he has to, but he'd rather talk with you in person. He's very good at delegating. He really trusts people to do their jobs. And when you think about where an orchestra is, everybody has a job. He really is good at picking people who are good at their jobs, nurturing them so they can continue to do them well. He's passionate about one thing, and that's jazz music.