Interesting case involving organ donation

[Puppycow]

LI mom fired after donating kidney to her boss: suit

A “kind and generous’’ Long Island mom donated a kidney to save the life of her boss — who then turned around after she got what she wanted and helped fire the poor woman, according to an explosive new legal complaint.

...

Stevens said she did not realize that she was in for serious pain, discomfort in her legs and digestive problems after the surgery on Aug. 10, 2011. She said she felt pressured to return to work Sept. 6, before she was ready — even while her boss was still recovering at home. When Stevens went home sick three days after her return, she said, Brucia actually called her from home to berate her.

“She . . . said, ‘What are you doing? Why aren’t you at work?’ I told her I didn’t feel good,’’ Stevens told The Post. “She said, ‘You can’t come and go as you please. People are going to think you’re getting special treatment.’ ”

After Brucia returned to work, she’d yell at Stevens in front of co-workers over alleged mistakes, Stevens said.

I don't really know whether the firing here was justified or not, but it seems like the woman believed that she was owed something for donating the kidney. However, I believe it is not legal to buy or sell an organ (maybe a lawyer knows better about that). Is it reasonable to expect some other sort of special treatment from her employer? Then again, what if her health problems were real and resulted directly from donating the kidney?

I also have a hypothetical question: suppose it came to light after a successful transplant that a donee gave money to the donor (after it was all over, say). Would that be a crime? And would they actually arrest the people involved?

 

[marplots]

I thought "donate" meant "freely given?" As in, no expectation of compensation.

 

[angrysoba]

LI mom fired after donating kidney to her boss: suit



I don't really know whether the firing here was justified or not, but it seems like the woman believed that she was owed something for donating the kidney. However, I believe it is not legal to buy or sell an organ (maybe a lawyer knows better about that). Is it reasonable to expect some other sort of special treatment from her employer? Then again, what if her health problems were real and resulted directly from donating the kidney?

I also have a hypothetical question: suppose it came to light after a successful transplant that a donee gave money to the donor (after it was all over, say). Would that be a crime? And would they actually arrest the people involved?

Are you supposed to be allowed to choose who you donate to?

If I gave a kidney to my boss then I bloody well would expect special treatment.

At the very least I would expect the benefit of the doubt and not be thought of as some malingerer who cunningly finagled a few days off work by that old ruse of donating a vital organ.

Having said that we don't really know the full story here:

Brucia had been “apparently grooming her to be her ‘backup plan,’ ” according to the papers. But while Stevens was a close health match for Brucia, she wasn’t a perfect one. So the doctors agreed to allow Stevens to donate her left kidney to someone else in the transplant group so that Brucia could move up the waiting list and get her organ from someone else.

How do we know that the boss was "grooming her"?

Experiencing mental anguish, she consulted a psychiatrist. and her lawyers wrote a letter to the company — after which Stevens was quickly fired, the papers state.

We don't really know what the letter said here or why she was fired and we don't know whether her boss actually had anything to do with the firing.

But we do know one thing about the boss and that is....she's a bitch. Listen to this...

She was spotted outside her Babylon home Friday getting into a limo with plastic cups and what appeared to be a bottle of pink champagne.

A limo...plastic cups...pink champagne! Clearly she was cackling over the misery she caused everyone.

 

[marplots]

If I had an extra kidney, I would give it to my boss.

Unfortunately, I only have two.

 

[Puppycow]

Are you supposed to be allowed to choose who you donate to?

For living donors you can. It also appears that you can do some sort of arbitrage if you are not a good match for the person you want to donate too. You can move them up the list.

 

[RecoveringYuppy]

For living donors you can. It also appears that you can do some sort of arbitrage if you are not a good match for the person you want to donate too. You can move them up the list.

"kidney chains"/"kidney swap"

http://news.emory.edu/stories/2013/06/euh_second_largest_kidney_swap_in_history/campus.html

 

[casebro]

If I had an extra kidney, I would give it to my boss.

Unfortunately, I only have two.

Unlike your testicles?

 

[marplots]

Unlike your testicles?

I didn't know I could donate those!?

I have no use for them anyhow.

 

[angrysoba]

For living donors you can. It also appears that you can do some sort of arbitrage if you are not a good match for the person you want to donate too. You can move them up the list.

That's what happened in this case, was it not?

 

[Puppycow]

That's what happened in this case, was it not?

According to the article, yes. I misunderstood at first, but even though she didn't directly donate an organ to her boss, her donation facilitated the one that her boss received.

 

[ponderingturtle]

Hmm, sounds like a ****** but legal thing to do.

 

[Son of Inigo]

Originally Posted by casebro
Unlike your testicles?
I didn't know I could donate those!?

I have no use for them anyhow.

You would have to get mine from my wife. She keeps them in the blue jar on the mantle.