Just got devastating news - UPDATE

[Ms. Toad]

131. There is a much bigger issue with transplants

Transplants cost around $500,000, and annual medication costs every year after that cost around $100,000 so your body doesn't reject the organ.

On top of that, there is a severe shortage of organs (all you within reading distance - sign those donor cards). There are far more people who need organs than there are organs available, so they have to make the most responsible decision they can with the precious gift of life.

Simplifying it, there is a two step process - qualifying and waiting until you are most needy.

To qualify you have to establish that you have the means (directly or through insurance/medicare/medicaid) to pay the medical bills now (and in the future), are to be able to care for the organ long term (following a strict drug regimen, have a social support system during the immediate post transplant period - and during future rejection episodes - or the need for a second organ), and you have to be sick enough that living with someone else's organ is better for you than living with your own. This qualifying process (medical, social, and financial) ensures that anyone who rises to the top of the list has a reasonable chance of using the gift of life well.

Getting through that process isn't something a single doctor can make happen - it isn't like advocating for a medical exception for medical care denied by an insurance company (which - as far as I am concerned is their responsible). The decision is made by a team of specialists, following strict guidelines to ensure the process filters out people who have no chance of making the organ last.

As to the first step, I would encourage the friend to get in touch with a transplant team and let them start the evaluation. Gastroneterologists (and even hepatologists) don't necessarily know the ins and outs of getting listed - and the comment made actually sounds more like something a GP would say than a specialist.

Just to close the loop on the second step - there is a constant re-evaluation of medical need once you are listed. If you get better you move down the list (or even off). If you get worse you move up. Where you are on the list when a liver becomes available determines whether you get the call.