Brain-dead man's kin in scuffle over op to remove organs

(The Straits Times Thursday, Febuary 8 2007 H1)

Grief-stricken relatives of a brain-dead man on tuesday begged that his organs not taken - and then got into a tussle with hospital staff when their request was rejected.

Mr Sim Tee Hua,43 , was declared brain dead at 6.20pm on Monday - four days after he collapse at work last day. The cause of death: a stroke, or a brain haemorrhage. The family of Mr Sim requested that they wait for 24hours before the doctors remove his organs, and the doctors agreed. After that time was up, they requested for another 24hours but the doctors felt that the delay would result in the organ becoming unsuitable for transplant and went ahead witht he operation.

Under the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota) amended in July 2004, kidneys, livers, hearts and ocrneas suitable for transplant can be removed from all Singaporeans and Permanent Residents upon their death- unless they have been opted out. Muslims are excused due to religious reasons.

Mr Sim had not opted out of the programme, so his family was powerless to stop his organs from being removed. Lianhe Wanbao reported that around 20 members of Mr Sim's family intervened when his body was being wheeled into he operating theatre at about 10.15pm on Tuesday. His mother and 5 other relatives went down on their knees to beg doctors to delay the operation for one more day.

But then their request was turned down, emotions ran high and the police was called. An aunt tried to bite a police officer in the arm. Nine police officers and about 10 hospital security staff members were involved in the thre-hour confrontation before the matter was resolved peacefully and the doctors performed the operation.

A Health Ministry spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday: " Where possible, doctors will accomodae a family's request for a grace period as death is usually a difficult time for them. however, the transplant team will have to balance this with the need to save the lives of organ failure patients."

Brain dead is defined as a complete and irrevisible cessation of brain activity. When this happens, a person can be declared dead even the hears continues to beat due to life support measures.

The kidney taken from Mr Sim's body were given to 2 patiends. One, a 55-yea-old man, was on the transplant waiting list for about six years. The other is a 49-year-old man who had been waiting for almost eigh years. Mr Sim's corneas will be transplanted in the next few days. Lagely due to amendmens to Hota, the number of patioeds awaiting a kidney transplant dropped from 673 in 2003 to 605 in mid-2006.

In the 2 years to July 2006, at least 130 people have revised transplants under the revised Act.
Anyone who does not want his organs to be taken after death can register with the Ministry of Health. The opt-out form can be obtained from all public hospitals and polyclinics or from the Organ Donor Registry at SGH.

Satays&Ketupats

New task force to ensure financial security of disabled

Parents of children with physical, intellextual, developmental or pther disabilities have a common worry: What will happen to their kids once they are gone?

A new five-member task force has been set up to answer thia questions, and find ways to ensure the financial security of disabled people. Among its first actions will be to set up a one-stop umbrella body to assess the family's needs, advise the parents on financial and legal matters and point them to solutions such as basic health or life insurance.

This body, which will be operational in the 2nd half of this year, will also show them how to prepare a will and appoint a trustee. The task force, set u[ by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS), is headed by Mrs Christine ong, managing director and country head of private bank UBS AG Singapore.

Mrs Ong also chairs UBS's community affairs commitee in Singapore, and has been actively involved in leading charitable initiatives in education and community regeneration in the region. The task force is the result of one of several recommendations made in October last year by a government-appointed commitee headed by Jalan Besar GRC MP denise Phua.

The panel studied ways to prevent the disabled from sinking into poverty. It found that parents of special-needs children are plagued by worries about their children's financial future. Few knew what to do about it and most had little financial awareness or planning. Among the committee's key proposals was the setting up of a national, non-profit special-needs trust fund.

It also suggested the following:

>>Encouraging parents with disabled children to take up basic financial protection;

>> Allow CPF accounts to be set up for the children which parents and others can contrubute to;

and

>> Review health schemes so the disabled get the same level of coverage as able-bodied people.

( The Straits Times Wednesday, January 31 2007 H3 )


I am all for this new Task Force because i believe it will help the needies in our society. This will help the whole society to improve as a whole and will aid in narrowing the gap between the extreme ends of the society. It will defintely bring about good effects on our society on a long term basis.


Satays&Ketupats

Should organ trading be allowed in Singapore?

Recently, there has been a debate on whether should organ trading be allowed in Singapore. Organ trading refers to one paying someone else for their organs to replace oneself's damaged organ. An example would be kidney.

Personally, I feel that organ trading should not be allowed in Singapore. It is true that through organ trading, we can expand the pool of organs available for transplant. For example, people suffering from kidney failure can find a kidney more easily, instead on waiting for a suitable organ from a willing donor (which possibility is quite small) . This could save many lives, especially people whose organs are failing and need an organ transplant urgently.However, if organ trading were to be allowed, it might bring about the rise of many social problems.

For example, will people resort to selling their organs due to lack of money? Will writings like " OWE MONEY PAY MONEY, NO MONEY SELL KIDNEY" appear on walls of HDB flats?( 18 january 2007 The Straits Times , Forum H8). Will the poor resort to selling organs to escape poverty ?

I believe that organ trading should not be allowed as I consider it as being immoral and unethical. Treating our body as a "saleable" asset is definitely immoral. Such trades will involve exploitation of the worse-off in our society. I believe organ transplant is only meaningful if the donor is willing to donate his/her organs out of love rather than for selfish reasons.

What are your opinions on "whether organ trading should be allowed in Singapore?"
Feel free to leave ur comments in our tagboard

Satays & Ketupats

The Social aspect of Singapore

Dear fellow group members,

Welcome to the our group's official GP blog.
I urge you to post any articles on Singapore's social affairs and please leave your point of view, arguements and probably solutions to the issue.

Yours fellow member,
Timothy Toh