kidney transplants

Kidney Donation Over Age 70? Some Saying, ‘Yes, Please’

Posted on 01/29/2013 by | Health | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthBy Judith Graham for Kaiser Health News This story was produced in collaboration with The Washington Post. Robert Brown was healthy, willing and a good match: So why not give a kidney to his wife, who otherwise would need dialysis? But Brown was 74, an age once unthinkable for a kidney donor. For this retired psychologist from Columbia, that wasn’t an issue. “I didn’t think about the age thing, not at all,” Brown said, describing his decision two years ago …

Kidney Sharing System May Change to Better Accommodate Older Patients

Posted on 01/29/2013 by | Health | Comments

Personal HealthBy Judith Graham for Kaiser Health News This story was produced in collaboration with The Washington Post.   Kidneys from deceased donors are carefully rationed under rules established by the nonprofit United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS. The system is set up so that kidneys go to people who have spent the longest time on waiting lists and who are a good match, with provisions made for distributing organs to patients within the same region, when possible. That method …

Dr. James West: The Transplant Pioneer Who Helped Others to Get Sober

Posted on 08/10/2012 by | Who's News | Comments

Bulletin Today | LegacyDr. James West would have earned a spot in medical history solely on the basis of his signature achievement as a surgeon. In 1950, West was part of the team at a Chicago-area hospital that was responsible for the first successful human kidney transplant (in this case, into Ruth Tucker, who was in danger of dying from polycystic kidney disease). Drugs to suppress the immune system and prevent it from rejecting a transplanted organ didn’t yet exist, so the transplant …