Page 40 - BusinessWest December 26, 2022
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                 me.’ That list included everything from becoming an organ donor on one’s driver’s license to learn- ing how to donate, to perhaps giving specifically to him.
Such proactive steps are becoming increas- ingly necessary, said Dr. Ken McPartland, medi- cal director of the Transplant Division at Baystate Medical Center, who told BusinesWest that the number of people on waiting lists is growing, the waits are often becoming longer, and the situa- tion has been made worse, at least temporarily, by the pandemic, which prompted many potential living donors to remain on the sidelines out of
“If someone has a living donor, they can get a transplant pretty much right away, which is usually within a few months. But if they don’t, they sometimes have to wait five to seven years to get a transplant.”
caution.
“If someone has a living donor, they can get a
transplant pretty much right away, which is usu- ally within a few months,” said McPartland, part of a team that handles 50 kidney transplants a year at Baystate on average. “But if they don’t, they sometimes have to wait five to seven years to get a transplant.”
Of the 41,000 kidney transplants performed last year in this coun- try, he noted, only 6,500 involved living donors — the rest of the organs were from those who were deceased, and the waits for those can be very long.
“There’s a huge need for more living dona- tions,” he explained. “We know that people can donate a kidney and do very well and live a nor- mal life. There is a risk, but the risks are is really low, and this is the biggest opportunity for improv- ing not just the number of transplants, but the qual- ity of transplants; we’d be able to help more people earlier in the process.”
Dr. Leo Riella, medi-
Dr. Ken McPartland says there is a huge need for living donations of kidneys.
cal director of Kidney
Transplantation at Mass
General Brigham, agreed.
is a huge backlog of cases. And as people wait
He said the numbers — specifically those related
longer, their odds for achieving quality of life grow
to the number of transplants performed each year
longer.
at his hospital and the number of people on the
waiting list (170 and 1,400, respectively) — help
Organ Players
tell the story of the importance of encouraging
Auerbach
donations.
quipped that it was
“That number of those waiting is growing by
Organs
easier for him to get
roughly 10% a year,” he noted, adding that there
Continued on page 42
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              40 DECEMBER 26, 2022
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