Here is a kind of ethical/celebrity thing all rolled into one. Over the weekend, The Hoff was admitted to the hospital again for alcohol poisoning. He went on a three day bender and one of his daughters took him to the hospital. He must love that they are old enough to drive now so they don't always have to call 911 for his detox. It is so much easier to sneak in or not have to pay anyone off when you have your daughter take you.
Anyway, as this is about his fourth trip to the hospital for the same thing in the past year it got me to thinking that his liver must be about shot. What is going to happen when his doctor says he needs a liver transplant? Does he go to the head of the line over kids or people who through no fault of their own need a replacement liver? I know there is a list and you get put on a donor list right? It still seems pretty bad that someone who does this all to themselves should get a liver before everyone else who needs one goes first. Of course with his money he will probably go to some third world country and return remarkably healed due to some magical "cure" he found there.
IN order to be on the list, he needs to stop drinking.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think (OT from the subject of the post) is that on first glance The Hoff has had some really decent-looking work done.
ReplyDeleteI like to see the age shine through the work, if that makes any sense. Doesn't have that scary freakishness that so many aging celebs with work have.
He's still a handsome man, but sadly a total doofus.
And I say get to the back of the line when you purposely have not taken proper care of the liver you have.
Despite a national waiting list, Mickey Mantle received a liver shortly after being diagnosed with liver cancer. He died a few months afterwards.
ReplyDeleteAnd let's not forget Steve Jobs who was able to get onto multiple waiting lists and fly immediately when a certain region had one available for him.
Sorry, certain perks of celebrity piss me off.
I agree. Even had he not brought this on himself, and continues to bring it on himself, he is an older man with grown children. Let the children and young people with families be first on the list.
ReplyDeleteYes, money and clout will get you ahead of those lists. There was a black football player who needed a transplant for something, and he refused to be bumped to the head of the line. He did eventually die from his condition.
ReplyDeleteWhen he is cremated, it will take two days to put out the fire.
ReplyDeleteAs a celeb, he will get his before others who have been on the list. When my mother was on the list, Larry Hagman(Dallas) and Jim Nabors(Gomer Pyle) both raging alcoholics, got theirs. And my mother who never drank, died waiting for one. This was back in the mid 80's and I am sure it continues to this day.
ReplyDeleteNu's Woman is, I believe, referring to Walter Peyton who had primary sclerosing cholangitis. My cousin has it, too. It's a rare disease where you eventually require a liver transplant. My cousin hasn't had his yet, but time is approaching.
ReplyDeleteThe thing about livers transplants that is new since, say, Larry Hagman and David Crosby got theirs is that a relative can donate part of theirs to you. You have to be tested to be a match (it's more than just a blood type match), but they can now take a piece of a livin donor's liver and implant it. The donor's liver will regenerate, and the new liver in the recipient will, precluding other complications, get to near normal.
So maybe a more compelling ethical question is, if you are a relative of The Hoff's, are you willing to donate a piece of your liver to him knowing that he's still abusing alcohol?
Two words come to mind...Celebrity Rehab!
ReplyDeleteskeeball, I am so sorry to hear that. My heart goes out to you.
ReplyDeletep.s. Here's more information on the living donor liver transplantation, if anyone is interested.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mayoclinic.org/liver-transplant/livingdonorlivertransplant.html
It sucks, but money talks. If you had the money, wouldn't you pay off doctors or whoever to put you or your child at the top of that list? Truthfully, you betcha I would. If someone (God forbid) told me right now that one of my daughters needed an organ transplant, I'd use every penny & all the influence we have to get it done. Morally wrong? Yep. Because my children aren't "above" anyone and health care shouldn't depend on who has the most money. But it does. And I wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of that.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure this won't be popular, but at least I'm being honest. :/
He still treats his body like crap and when he gets sick I don't know if someone from his family would even get tested to see if they're a match.
ReplyDeleteMy mom works at a hospital and if you drink your liver rotten they don't put you at the top of the list, that's mostly reserved for kids and younger people. That being said, that's for everyday people, not celebrities. I don't know how they treat celebrities, but I'd imagine they would zoom to the top of the list. That's kind of morally wrong when it's self-inflicted.
ReplyDeleteOne more thing...
ReplyDeleteThey will also bring you to the top of the list if a donor appendage comes up and you are a good match. Like 4/5 or something. Like someone up there said, there are more variables than just blood type to match.
@Syko and Little Miss Smoke~Thanks!! She was a great Mom!
ReplyDelete@chopchop
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more.
@Nu Woman
You are referring to NFL great Walter Payton, he refused to be put ahead of anyone else on the list and he died shortly after revealing that he needed the transplant.
The Hoff wouldn't even be considered for an organ transplant because he is an alcoholic who refuses to get clean. Alcoholics/drug addicts go to the bottom of the list. But with his money I am sure he can buy his way to a new one.
I'm sure I'll be beaten over the head for this, but who are we to decide who's worthy and who's not? I worked in an inner-city hospital on the rehab floor, where pre and post op renal, heart and liver patients go for treatment. Saw many many children with noncommittal parents, in rejection because of noncompliance. Happens quite often, actually. Kids don't want to follow their diet, take their meds, etc, and parents aren't making them. Total waste. Should these kids not receive their donations because they won't take care of them?
ReplyDeleteCalling Dr Drew, calling Dr Drew!!!
ReplyDelete@ Jess D
ReplyDeleteWhat you're comparing is apples and oranges. No, you shouldn't give an organ to someone who drank themself pickled, or someone who is old as the hills, for what? So they can just ruin that organ too, or die one year later?
Little kids with crappy parents like that should have their children taken away for failure to provide the bare necessities of life, not their donated organs.
Maybe he could talk to Naomi Judd about her miracle (cough) cure (cough, cough) for Hep C. Oh, wait, the Hoff actually has been diagnosed! LOL
ReplyDelete@Jesse D I think the issue here we're all wondering about is if a celebrity who has damaged his liver to that extent deserves to not only get a new one but to be bumped to the top of the list due to his fame. Surely kids whose parents are neglectful should not be punished/denied treatment because of their parents' irresponsibility.
ReplyDeleteWhen my dad was drinking I wanted him to end up needing a new liver, just because I didn't think he deserved one for having caused the damage himself. (That's what being a child of an alcoholic does to you.) I'm proud to say, though, that he's been sober 18 years now. And he still has his one and only liver. :)
I'd always heard what @Sue Ellen said BUT i'm not sure when it comes to "celebrities."
ReplyDeleteWhat a hot mess HOFF is.
Yes, Walter Payton was a class act, right to the very end. :-( RIP.
ReplyDeleteAs for Hoff, of COURSE he'll buy one. Enough money will buy you anything. ANYthing.
didn't john phillips get a new liver? shit, if he can get one, anyone can. it's called MONEY.
ReplyDeleteand i know a man on the list right now who is an active addict. he's lied to his doctors about it and they have taken his word for it. (i've begged his wife to rat him out but so far, she hasn't.) so there ya go.
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ReplyDeleteLet him get his liver from an executed inmate from China. I'll stay off the organ donor list, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteBravo, jbdean_79, bravo.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had read that book you recommended before I did my short presentation on bioethics for school.
That being said, my husband is a genetic match for a donor program he signed up for years ago. The patient at first was going to go through with it, then not, then back to yes again. My husband is now debating whether or not to undergo the painful experimental drugs he has to take before they take his bone marrow. Not to cast organ donation in a negative light, but my husband has the balls to do what my weak character cannot.
Okay when the DMV gives you the form to fill out for your license they ask you if you want to be a donor and if you say yes, you get the pink dot on your licence. I always took that as if I die the hospital knows to take my organs?If this is true then why are so many people agsinst organ donation?can someone please help me understand.
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ReplyDeleteYes, JBDean, awesome comment!!!
ReplyDeleteand veg mommy, that reference to "people being against donations" is about ppl being scared that if they are "near death" then the drs. will say, "oh, gosh, save this person!!! Wait! They are b negative and have a great liver? Well kill that bastard, the Hoff needs that liver!!" Which, btw, doesn't happen. Not in any hospital I've ever worked in, anyway.
My brother once joked about my father, "He's so well-preserved it'll be 10 years before he realizes he's dead." Looks like the Hoff's years are dwindling down.
ReplyDeleteI thought doctors had a say in who got the organ, meaning if someone is a high-risk they say forget it. It's a lifetime commitment.
jbdean_79, thanks for the info.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if this varies from state to state, but I know in MN it doesn't matter what you put on your driver's license; the hospital needs consent from a relative (or someone with power of attorney, etc.) to use your organs. So don't just check the box, tell your family what your wishes are. Or have a living will.
Sure, some of the organs donated will go to asshole addicts, but a much larger number will go to decent people who deserve a second chance at life.
I heard a fascinating story on NPR about Israel: they are considering giving priority for receiving organs to those who have agreed to be donors. The ethics of organ donation are incredibly complicated.