Boss of the Year!

No offense to my boss, who's all-knowing and powerful, but North Carolina boss Chris Jernigan wins Boss of the Year in my book. He successfully donated a kidney to his assistant, Lisa White, earlier this year, and CNN has a warm video report on its site today. The report doesn't mention the company -- if any of you out there knows Chris or Lisa, let them know about Chopped Liver, because I'd love to get ahold of them for my ongoing work on my new site and foundation. Happy day!

Reality bites TV viewers

When I first heard about "The Big Donor Show," an elaborate reality TV show hoax staged in early June on TV in the Netherlands, I was as abhorred as the most squeamish of Dutch viewers. In the one-night broadcast, three contestants in need of a kidney transplant were competing to "win" the kidney of a terminally ill woman. At the last minute, though, as viewers sat on the edge of their seats in horror over who would live and die, the host revealed that the show was a hoax, that the would-be donor was a perfectly healthy actress, that all the actors were willingly in on it, and that the point of the trick was to raise awareness for the need to change Dutch organ donation laws and promote organ donation choices.

Grotesque in the extreme.

But then for a while, my Mom changed my mind. When I brought it up this weekend, she questioned whether perhaps it was worth it -- macabre as it was -- because the Netherlands, it turns out, has a very stupid law in place. To be a live donor, you must be a relative or close friend. No anonymous strangers allowed. (Whaddaya think of that, Mike?) And they have the same shortage challenges we face here, and the world faces overall. Okay, I conceded she has a point.

Now, though, I'm back to critical. It's all just too ugly for me I guess. After a very quick Google search, I found this posting by a professional British blog bloke, Mal Fletcher (killer smile, that one) that reflects my own opinion quite well.

Welcome

Hi to my newest reader, Tom. Welcome to Chopped Liver!

A sad day in the transplant community

A tragic and hideously unfair plane crash killed two surgeons and two organ donor specialists from the University of Michigan Health System on Monday, while they were flying donor organs to a critical-condition patient. From CNN.com:

The university identified those aboard the plane as: Dr. Martinus "Martin" Spoor, a cardiac surgeon who had been on the faculty since 2003; Dr. David Ashburn, a physician-in-training in pediatric cardiothoracic surgery; Richard Chenault II, a transplant donation specialist with the university transplant program; Richard Lapensee, a transplant donation specialist with the university transplant program; and pilots Dennis Hoyes and Bill Serra.