Powerful "ER" tonight. Every patient's worst fear. You've just broken in the new kidney, its barely out of the warranty and BAM! Acute Renal Failure. Did you see the pain in the parent's eyes. WOW. Then the father goes all "John Q" in an effort to keep his daughter off of dialysis. The episode was pretty powerful and I don't want to detract from that, but here's my two thoughts on the situation:
1) At the Transplant Games, I've met people who've spent time on dialysis and artificial hearts (Zonie Bill most notably); although I don't have personal experience with dialysis, I can safely recommend that people shouldn't kill themselves to provide a kidney for a daughter, dialysis is just not that bad.
2) The family's pain was due to just one factor: The wait time for a new organ. I think at one point they threw out a "20 year wait for a new kidney".Imagine if there was a culture shift and people donated kidneys as easily as they donated blood. There would be no pain. Acute Renal Failure? Fine, is surgery on Friday good for you? I just wish NBC had put a PSA at the end for organ donation.
""ER" on NBC"
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