List date(s) this work was published or aired.
15-Apr-11
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
More than 110,000 Americans are on organ transplant waiting lists, with 80 percent in need of a kidney in part because of rising incidences of obesity, hypertension and diabetes. While states and hospitals have been working to increase organ donation rates with some success, demand for donated organs far exceeds supply. Some transplant advocates are proposing controversial measures such as rewarding donors with financial compensation, reserving young organs for young recipients and changing organ donation from the current opt-in system to one in which people not wishing to donate organs at death would have to opt out. Advances in bioengineering may eventually shrink the organ gap, allowing surgeons to transplant organs engineered from a patient’s own stem cells. But for complex organs such as lungs and kidneys, that goal is probably decades away.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
I used publicly available data and documents from a variety of sources. These sources included online databases of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; reports from the Institutes of Medicine; articles from various journals, including Critical Care Nurse, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, and Progress in Transplantation; reports from advocacy groups such as the National Kidney Foundation; data and reports from transplant centers; as well as media reports.
Explain types of human sources used.
I interviewed 30 human sources, including transplant recipients, organ donors, surgeons and physicians, organ donor coordinators, transplant advocates, researchers and bioethicists.
Results:
Aside from positive reader response, I know of no other result.
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.
CQ Researcher has not run a correction or clarification, and no one has challenged the report’s accuracy.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
The issues surrounding organ donation and transplantation are complicated and emotional for those involved. While it is important to interview and listen carefully to organ donors, recipients, their advocates and physicians, it is equally important to read the research found in scholarly publications that try to examine the impact of organ donation policies and proposals. Sometimes the analysis of data is difficult to understand, but I have found that most authors of journal articles are willing to take the time to explain their methods and conclusions. They do not expect journalists to be biostatisticians.