Teen who received the wrong transplant

I've been out of town for the weekend and it seems as though I missed quite a bit on this thread while I was gone! When I left on Friday there were only about 7 posts...now there were 38.

Let me just say a few things...

First of all, I can't even begin to tell you how heart broken I have been to hear that young Jesica lost her battle. This is just something that has deeply affected me, and I can't even imagine what her family is going through right now. My thoughts and prayers are certainly with them.

That being said........this was NEVER a race issue. I don't care if she was an illegal immigrant or not, her life was just as important as a legal citizen of the United States. And no, SOG, I am NOT calling you a racist, I just believe that your comments were VERY uncalled for in this situation. Please don't jump on my case for that, that is just how I feel. Maybe my emotions are just too high strung right now, but I can't help it.

The "careless error" question that someone had...sorry, I cant' remember who you were off the top of my head. Yes, I do feel as though this was a careless error and I am still baffled at how this happened. When a transplant takes place, there are soooooooooooooooo many people involved...from the donor, their family, their doctors, the organization that basically "sets up" the dononation and determines who the organ matches best, to the team of doctors who REMOVE the organs, to the team of doctors who TRANSPLANT the organs, to the Transplant Coordinator, to the organ recipient and their family. There are others involved, I am sure, but those are the ones that I could think of off of the top of my head. I just don't understand how that through all of those people that no one noticed this mistake. And yes, I feel as though it was careless.

Most people don't understand the process that is involved in organ donation/transplantation. I think I recall reading where someone said this earlier, but just because a family decides to donate their loved one's organs does not mean that they will all be able to be used. There are so many factors involved, besides just the blood and tissue type as what was incorrect in this particular case. They have to take into consideration the location of the donor and the distance from the donor to the recipient (organs must be transplanted within a certain amount of time...it varies from one organ to the next...a heart the window is approximately 4 hours), the size of the organ in relation to the size of the recipient's organ/organ cavity, the "status" of the recipient (and I am not referring to social status, but their status on the waiting list, which is determined by the extent and seriousness of their illness)...just to name a few. When matching a donor and recipient, the closest matched recipient to the donor is the one that is generally offered the organ first. The transplant team then either accepts or rejects the organ according to the information that they were given. If they "accept" the organ, a team of doctors (usually at least one of the transplant team doctors) goes to the donor and physically looks at the organs. If the visual check seems to appear as a match, a team of doctors will begin to remove the organs and transport them back for transplant. The transplantation process is very specific. It is timed very precisely so that when the organ(s) arrives, they are ready to be stitched into their new body. The organ has already been removed to preserve the time that the organ is outside of the body.

I said all of that to say this...through all of those checks and balances, I can not understand how SOMEONE didn't see this mistake and say hold up...this organ donor is such and such blood type, and Jesica is such and such blood type. I know that it was a mistake, but if everyone was doing what they were supposed to, then it should have been a mistake that NEVER happened.

I've lived through this process. I know the organs that were offered to my sister that were turned away for various reasons, and I also know that because her transplant team was so efficient, she couldn't have received a better heart. Seven and a half years later, she is still giving that "new heart" a run for it's money. Now, do I credit the doctors for this? No, not at all. All of my credit goes to my Almighty God. I really and truly believe that her doctors ALLOWED God to guide them in this process.

Please also understand that I am not suggesting that this should be jumped into as a malpractice suit. I do believe that the doctors involved will end up being sued over this, but that was not at all what I was suggesting. Everyone makes mistakes, even doctors, and that is to be expected. We are all humans, we have a human nature, and we are far from perfect. But something like this shouldn't happen. There are too many people involved who should be "checking behind" one another and I just feel as though they should have caught the mistake. When I asked "What, if any, punishment should be involved?", I was merely asking that as a matter of opinion from everyone. I just wanted to clear that up as well.

I apologize if I seem really testy and snotty over this. As I said earlier, this is just a very sensitive issue for me, and it's one that I am really, deeply affected by. I know very well that I could be sitting in that family's shoes. Please know that I am not trying to offend anyone or jump on them for comments, but when I started this thread, I had no idea that it was going to turn into what it has, and I just want to clear up where I stand. I sincerely appreciate the comments that you guys have given, and I totally respect your views, I just felt as thought I needed to clear up why I feel the way that I do.

I guess instead of trying to figure out who was at blame, or whether this child took the organ that should have gone to an "American Citizen", let's take that energy and focus it on praying for this family that is in so much pain over the loss of this beautiful, young lady who had so much life ahead of her, at the hands of a mistake that was unable to be fixed. I am preaching at myself when I say this.

By the way, DewJunkie...thank you so much for your comments. You and your wife and daughter remain in my prayers at the loss of your precious duaghter. It is so hard to understand why God takes such special people from our lives, especially when they are so young. Sometimes it is really hard to remember that he is in control and, pardon the cliche, but it seems to fit..."Father knows best."

I sincerely hope that I haven't offended anyone. I didn't mean to. I apologize if I came across that way. This is just an area that I am extremely passionate and emotional about.

Thanks again for your comments, everyone...and remember Jesica's family in your prayers...

In His Arms,
Amber Joy