Alarm! Lawyer jumps waiting list for cadaver donation

Making an amendment to the rules to allow something like this to happen can open a can of worms

Health care experts have sounded an alarm over the unusual case where a lawyer was allowed to jump the waiting list for kidney transplant when he agreed to do a cadaver donation of his brother only if he himself received one kidney.

This case unfolded earlier this week when the lawyer, Nitin Vhatkar was approached for the cadaver donation of his brother, Nitin, who was declared brain dead. Since he was himself suffering from end stage kidney failure, Nitin made this request that he will give consent only if he receives one of the two kidneys. While this request was initially denied by the Zonal Transplant Co Ordination Committee, it was finally agreed when the approval came from the National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (NOTTO). While one kidney went to the brother, another kidney was transplanted into a patient at Fortis Hospital and the heart went to a patient at KDA Hospital.

However, sources said that allowing the lawyer to jump the queue can set a dangerous precedent since there is no rules in the ZTCC that allow something like this to happen. “This is a clear case of arm twisting where the rules were broken in order to get consent for cadaver donation,” a senior nephrologist said.

When asked about this, Dr Vatsala Trivedi, former ZTCC secretary said that this is first time in the history of cadaver transplant that something like this has happened. “In fact, making an amendment to the rules to allow something like this to happen can open a can of worms since who is to confirm that the person is a blood relative or not,” she said.

Even as the lawyer has received a kidney transplant after giving consent for cadaver donation, it is clear that someone on the waiting list has been denied what is rightfully due to him, sources said. “It is a known fact that kidney donation is a very emotional issue and people tend to get hyper when it comes to getting a transplant,” she said. It is quite likely that if such an amendment is passed then agents can take advantage of this situation and create fake blood relatives in order to take advantage of this situation,” she cautioned.

Commenting on this, Dr GB Davar, president of the ZTCC, admitted that there is no rule that allows for something like this and this raises many questions. “If there is such a situation in the middle of the night then who is to certify that the person demanding a kidney is really a blood relative. Time is of crucial element here and hence all these aspects must be taken into consideration when making any amendments to the rules, he pointed out.

Sources said that if `humanitarian’ grounds are the reason for allowing this transplant then the same should also have applied to the kidney patient who was trying to get a transplant at Hiranandani Hospital. “He was also trying to save his life by getting a kidney transplant but the surgery was stopped and he was arrested in the case, and in fact he later died of complications,” a senior doctor said.

When queried on this, Dr Sujata Patwardhan, secretary, ZTCC admitted that something like this had never been done before, but said that this is no reason why this cannot be done now. “We feel that we have done the right thing and there is no need to justify our decision,” she quipped.

“This is a clear case of arm twisting where the rules were broken in order to get consent for cadaver donation.”