Kidney exchange in Mississippi (endorsed by celebrities)

 Mississippi Today has the story:

‘Kidney chains’ could save lives and billions of healthcare dollars, advocates say.  by Pat Boone, Robert Hays and Steve Young 

"Editor’s note: Entertainer Pat Boone, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young and actor Robert Hays of “Airplane” fame signed on as authors of a guest essay provided by US Blood Donors.org for Mississippi Today on “Kidney Chains.”

"This guest essay, though, written from a national perspective is of special importance to MT Ideas since Mississippi is among the states with the highest number of kidney disease-related deaths per 100,000 adjusted for age, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.* 

"Hundreds of thousands of dialysis patients in the United States could receive lifesaving kidney transplants sooner if one simple idea became widely known: “kidney chains”— sequences of living-donor transplants that allow one donor to save multiple lives. 

The goal is simple: Make “kidney chains” a household phrase. 

Kidney chains allow living donors who are incompatible with their intended recipient to help initiate a sequence of transplants that can save multiple lives. The concept builds on Nobel Prize-recognized work** in market design and has already enabled thousands of lifesaving kidney transplants. 

 

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*Figure from the NCHS 

 

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** The video link is to the last three minutes of this 15 minute talk from 2014

Thursday, September 18, 2014  Kidney exchange at Google Zeitgeist 2014: 15 minute video