The specialist:
As the director of the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital, Dr. Sander Florman oversees 350 to 400 transplant surgeries a year, many from living donors. On April 2, President Obama declared this National Donate Life Month.
Who’s at risk:
More than 120,000 Americans are now on waiting lists for an organ transplant. “Every day in this country, 17 people die without the opportunity of a transplant,” says Florman.
“Right now, there are 100,000 Americans waiting for a kidney and 17,000 for a liver,” says Florman. “There are nowhere near enough organs from deceased donors for these people — living donors are the only way we’ll ever be able to match this need.” In 2010, 6,500 organ transplants were performed thanks to living donors.
Since the first living donor successfully gave a kidney to his twin brother in 1954, thousands of living donor transplants have been done in the U.S. and around the world.
“Living donation is a very altruistic thing, but it also challenges the principles of medicine, including ‘First do no harm,’ ” says Florman. “While giving an organ is not risk-free, at this point it is low-risk — living donors often hate the word heroes, but they truly are all life-savers.”
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/daily-checkup-thousands-transplant-waiting-lists-advances-care-reduce-risks-article-1.1059187#ixzz1rjmQnKoH
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