Soldier dies after receiving smoker's lungs in transplant

Originally posted by zerbot565
reply to post by OzWeatherman

 

then i fail to see why they even mentioned that he was a soldier and how does one become a soldier if one has bad lungs that needs to be replaced, are soldiers now more valuable then civilians besides lung ilnesses / diseases just dont pop up for no reason..

What??? Im seriously lost here....I believe he was a soldier before the lung condition was known...and if it has nothing to do with his proffesion, then why did you mention it in your post

and my statment has nothing to do with what you describe and i take it quite offensive that you call me heartless since you your self failed to understand what i wrote.

ignorance

I may have misunderstood you.

Its not ignorance, im just used to reading texts that are written by adults, rather than children

[edit on 13/10/2009 by OzWeatherman]

Originally posted by spellbound
reply to post by OzWeatherman

 

OK, but I still have a huge issue about countries seeming to think their brave soldiers are worth nothing.

And this encompasses homeless soldiers, soldiers so traumatised that they are wrecked, and soldiers living on a pittance.

Totally agree with you, ex soldiers definently need more government support

Although in saying that, we shouldnt put one citizen above another regardless of proffesion etc. when it comes to issues such as these

reply to post by OzWeatherman


Oz, TY for your support, but I do believe that we should put brave fighters on a pedestal - these are the people who defend our homes, our way of life - everything.

Then they come home to crap - it is totally outrageous.

Originally posted by spellbound
reply to post by OzWeatherman

 

Oz, TY for your support, but I do believe that we should put brave fighters on a pedestal - these are the people who defend our homes, our way of life - everything.

Then they come home to crap - it is totally outrageous.

Just as a matter of interest, are you American?

I know our guys over here are always welcome home and usually given appropriate compensation.

ok he was a person , yes ?

what has his proffesion to do with his lung disease ?

what has his proffesion to do with the lung transplant ?

i just fail to grasp as to why even mention he was a working human who suddenly for no apparent reason had to remove his lungs,

the mention of his proffesion in context whit his "disease" is what bothers since there is no point in mentioning it if there is no connection.

besides calling people heartless and now childish is not very mature..

and what i said in the first post is utterly true wether you be from the U.s or for any other nation who take care of their "troopers" your private insurance wont cover your losses in a battle, ..

reply to post by OzWeatherman


No, I am a Kiwi - our Vietnam soldiers came back to no welcome, and a lot of them died young because of all the crap used over there in that totally pointless war, dictated by America.

All wars are pointless, but no-one ever learns that until it is too late.

Originally posted by spellbound
reply to post by OzWeatherman

 

No, I am a Kiwi - our Vietnam soldiers came back to no welcome, and a lot of them died young because of all the crap used over there in that totally pointless war, dictated by America.

All wars are pointless, but no-one ever learns that until it is too late.

Ah yes, I see now

Our ANZAC's are well respected here, even by our government, its a shame they arent doing over on your side of the Tasman

reply to post by OzWeatherman


And I have heard terrible stories about American Veterans begging on the streets.

Apparently, they do not care about their cannon fodder.

reply to post by spellbound


We actually respect our military enough not to call them cannon fodder. Our veterans have access to a wealth of resources- probably more than any other country.

Originally posted by stevegmu
reply to post by spellbound

 

We actually respect our military enough not to call them cannon fodder. Our veterans have access to a wealth of resources- probably more than any other country.

Why are some of them still living on the streets then?

Not trying to be rude, just curious

reply to post by stevegmu


I am only saying what I have heard.

Obviously, I can't prove it.

reply to post by OzWeatherman


How would it look if the VA forcibly rounded them up? It is a no-win situation. There are plenty of resources to help them, but they can't be forced to use them or to seek help.

reply to post by stevegmu


I don't know what the VA is, but is it true that you have war veterans living on your streets?

If so, that is abominable.

reply to post by OzWeatherman


All they need to do is go to their nearest VA clinic, have them help secure a DD214, sign up for services and they are set.

The services are there for them, they just need to utilize them.

reply to post by spellbound


The Veterans Administration. I already explained how we can not simply pick them up off the streets, throw them in the back of vans and get them the help and services they need.

reply to post by stevegmu


Probably their brains are wrecked - it is too late.

Also, why leave them on the streets anyway? Why not just pick them up and try to cure them?

Originally posted by spellbound
reply to post by stevegmu

 

Probably their brains are wrecked - it is too late.

Also, why leave them on the streets anyway? Why not just pick them up and try to cure them?

Because kidnapping is illegal?

reply to post by VneZonyDostupa


Saving someone who needs saving very important.

So, why not save these people who are, I believe, lost, and a lot of whom are walking your streets?

Originally posted by spellbound
reply to post by VneZonyDostupa

 

Saving someone who needs saving very important.

So, why not save these people who are, I believe, lost, and a lot of whom are walking your streets?

How do you identify someone, just by visual recognition, as a veteran? And how do you identify someone on the street who is suffering from a mental disability? Have you ever tried to diagnose one? I have, and it's not even that easy in a nice, sterile hospital room.

Should we just start rounding anyone up who "looks like they need help" and force them into a psych ward? Why stop with mental disorders? Why don't we drive house to house and take away all the obese veterans and force them onto caloric restriction diets. I mean, we're only trying to help, right?

As a sub-i at a major urban center, I can promise, you will cause MORE harm trying to force care on some of these people than if you just left them to their own devices, especially considering what you are suggesting is highly illegal.

You've got a guy who was slowly suffocating because of a lung disease. He was on a transplant list. A set of lungs became available that fit his blood and tissue type. They were from a smoker. The doctors (and patient, probably) had to face this question: Take a sure thing, and hope that the lungs are OK, or pass on the possibly defective lungs and hope that another set that matches your tissue type shows up before you finally suffocate.

You can't be too picky about organs. There aren't as many donors as there are people who need organs. The organs have to match the tissue type of the patient, so even if organs become available, they won't always work for any given patient. Many people die on those waiting lists because they couldn't get the transplant in time.

Had the radiologist caught the tumor, then what? Would they automatically have thrown out the lungs? If so, then this soldier might well have died months before he did of his original disease.

As for giving the guy another set of lungs when these turned out to be cancerous, they couldn't do that. Carcinoma will disqualify you from eligibility for transplant.

Unfortunately, sad things happen every day. This poor guy got gypped. He had a sickness, and the hoped-for cure for it turned out to be fatal. That is sad. But just because bad things happen, doesn't mean someone is to blame. Sometimes bad things happen to people who don't seem to deserve it.