- http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/02/18/health/record-chain-of-kidney-transplants.html?ref=health
- http://www.nytimes.com/video/2012/02/18/health/100000001348484/blood-brothers-and-sisters.html
Provide names of other journalists involved.
None
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
February 19, 2012 September 20, 2012 September 20, 2012
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Melding narrative and investigative technique, The Times set out to examine the country’s devastating shortage of donor organs, particularly kidneys, and to explore leading-edge solutions to the inequity between supply and demand. Significant findings include the discarding of hundreds of potentially viable kidneys each year because of shortcomings in the country’s organ-matching system and the emergence of kidney transplant chains that begin with a Good Samaritan donor and enable live-organ matches for otherwise incompatible recipients.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The articles required extensive reviews of medical literature and analysis of government statistics on organ donation and transplantation.
Explain types of human sources used.
The articles involved interviews with hundreds of sources, including leading physicians, ethicists, transplant coordinators and government regulators. For the initial article about the record-breaking kidney transplant chain, The Times gained permission to identify 59 of the 60 participants and interviewed each of them.
Results:
Within a month of publication of the initial article, more than 400 people had signed up with the National Kidney Registry to become Good Samaritan donors in the hopes of starting other chains — five times the usual number. Hospitals from Texas to California reported similar spikes. Three readers contacted The Times later in the year to disclose that the article had inspired their own donations to start chains. Other articles provided new momentum for improvements that had long been stymied by internal debate and politics at the United Network for Organ Sharing, the country’s transplantation regulator.
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No challenges to accuracy, etc. I think there was one correction on the spelling of a medical condition. A couple of the stories on the list are essentially follow-ups.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Good storytelling and extensive reporting use narrative detail to enliven complex debates over science, policy and ethics.