Donated-organ recipient says province should make donations 'barrier free'
A recipient of three donated organs says he fully supports a Newfoundland and Labrador family who decided not to donate their loved one's organs because of a change in the province's organ procurement policy — and adds there should be a mobile procurement team.
David Jones, 33, who has had three kidney transplants due to a congenital defect, said he "fully supports" the Park family's decision to not send Derek Park alone to St. John's in an air ambulance for organ harvesting.
The family was "stunned" when a change in policy meant an organ procurement team would not be sent to Corner Brook, where Derek Park was being kept on life support.
After his death, Park was cremated without having any organs removed.
Jones, who had his first transplant when he was only 11, said he "fully supports" the Park family's decision, and he thinks the policy is backwards, especially in a province with high rates of diabetes and dialysis. The family would not have been able to travel with Derek Park on the air ambulance.
"I think the province and the health authority should understand. You have a loved one who has essentially passed, who's alive on life support," he said.
"And exactly what Shawna [Park] said, they're still breathing in their eyes, their heart is still beating. You do not want to take that loved one away, send them eight hours to St. John's with no provision to get the family out there."
Jones said the province put up barriers and it should make organ donation "completely barrier-free" if it wants it to be something that everybody does.
"If somebody costed out dialysis versus transplant, I guarantee you giving somebody a transplant and maintaining them on that transplant over a lifetime would be much cheaper."
Mobile procurement team
Jones also said the province should have a mobile procurement team that can harvest the organs where the person is.
"These people were not in outport Newfoundland in a clinic. They were in one of the major centres, in Corner Brook, with an [operating room]."
"There should have been more explanation to the family as to why, other than, 'Well it's a policy change.' When we're looking at people's health care — fiscal responsibility aside — you should be looking at the emotions and the impact it has on the families that are willing to donate."
As for his own health, Jones said his current kidney is "a bit wishy washy" so he may transition back to dialysis and the transplant list again.
"As somebody who has dealt with chronic illness for a long time, I kind of just take it one day at a time and I try not to have too many highs or lows, I kind of keep [an] even keel."