news.bbc.co.uk — A Dutch TV station says it will go ahead with a program in which a terminally ill woman selects one of three patients to receive her kidneys.Political parties have called for The Big Donor Show to be scrapped, but broadcaster BNN says it will highlight the country's shortage of organ donors.
May 29, 2007 View in Crawl 4
rinzwindMay 30, 2007
hedgehog1 you are welcome! We Dutch are very sociable so we do not want to keep this from the rest of the world.And it's not just Digg we post on :-D
cherubimMay 30, 2007
Each country has different procedures for organ donation but generally it's a an optional choice when one applies for a drivers license.As for kidney disease itself, many renal patients live a long life with regular dialysis although their ability to perform certain tasks is impaired (notably sport and other physical activities). The waiting lists for renal transplants is growing every year as more and more people refuse to sign an organ consent form due to ignorance and.or lack of awareness. As to this stupid "reality" show offering a kidney as a prize. This is appalling and disgusting. I say this as a renal Tx patient myself. Human organs should not be traded about like pieces of meat waiting for sale - it's demeaning and is a serious slap in the face for human decency. Yes, it may raise awareness of renal disease and the need for organ transplantation, but there are more appropriate ways of addressing these serious issues. This show totally mocks the whole organ donation/transplantation process. One thing people should note is that organ transplantation is a form of treatment and not a cure. This means that one should only receive a transplanted organ if they meet strict criteria. This requires a patient to be in reasonably good health with normal blood pressure and must have regular tissue typing performed every month to ensure a close match with the transplanted organ. It's a very involved process and not everyone can meet such criteria.
berndtMay 30, 2007
We've just been discussing it here as well, and I think we've come up with a viable format for the follow-up show. Not necessarily on BNN, but any commercial station will do (I vote for Tien, because they've already set such lower-than-low standards with their "Gouden Kooi" show).Anyways, our proposal:The game-show is set in a hospital. The show uses 2 rooms: one for the show, the other a completely set up OR. Contestants then play poker (after all, poker is immensely popular at the moment). The contestants do not play with money they brought with them. Instead, each of their organs is valued at the beginning of the show by a jury ("Idols"-style). They can cash the value of different organs throughout the show. The winner takes home the price money in cash, the losers are wheeled off next door where the organs they lost in the game are removed. Live on TV, of course, in true "Big Brother" style.As an added bonus, the station can then do follow-up programming where they follow the recipients of the various organs "liberated" in this manner. This way they could show how much good their game show is actually doing.Anyone ready to play?
vorkbaardMay 30, 2007
> f I ever decide to donate organs, it has to be me who judges who's going to get em,> they're mine and mine alone to give away.In the end, it will be the donor's choice. The public cannot vote, will just give advice. It is the donor's own choice.> Being a donor is like signing your own death treaty,> in the US they've let many (black) people die because of their organs...The donor will have one kidney removed while she is alive. Kidneys removed from a living body are far better than kidneys removed from dead bodies. If you are alive, you may decide to whom you donate the organ. If you are dead you are not allowed to decide (that is, your written declaration that you leave your organs to xyz is not valid).Besides, the donor has already had her death treaty signed: she is terminally ill (her kidneys are healty however).> This show will probably not air though, there's already a lot of criticism.The criticism is the very reason the show WILL air.Please if you're going to comment, do so on the right information.
bitterbugMay 30, 2007
Jeez, if i could do it legally I'd sell a kidney.Years of thinking "Ooh, I need that!" resulted in significant debt. If I could turn around and eliminate that debt AND better someone else's life at the same time, then so much the better.But the current laws against it would require travelling to places where I'd be a bit leery of letting anyone give me a general anaesthetic.
gbroMay 31, 2007
One step closer to The Wheel Of Misfortune involving condemned criminals (purely to highlight the problems of crime and its social and political impacts of course).
donormomMay 31, 2007
I am just sorry that the state of the organ donation program is so bad that this show even has to exist. I watched my son suffer for several years from kidney disease and dialysis until he was sick enough to be put on the donor list and we started family testing for matches. I thank God that I was able to be his donor and I applaud the woman on this show who is willing to help someone she doesn't even know. I am glad this lady will get the chance to see the life she will save. Maybe this show will start others thinking about living donation ( it really doesn't affect my quality of life) or become organ donors when they are deceased. The waiting list gets longer every day.
headzapJul 23, 2007
Here's some footage of another CRAZY dutch reality show:<a class="user" href="http://digg.com/television/VIDEO_Sadistic_Dutch_Reality_Show_Coming_to_US">http://digg.com/television/VIDEO_Sadistic_Dutch_Reality_Show_Coming_to_US</a>Coming soon to the US apparently