“Organ donor controversy” – group reading
Shared by Kate
Lead-in
What do you know about kidneys? With a partner, see how many of the following questions can you answer:
• Is a human kidney about the same size as a plum or bigger?
• For how long (approximately) can a healthy human kidney be stored before it is transplanted?
• When a kidney transplant is performed, where is the ‘new’ kidney put in the body?
• How long does the average kidney transplant operation take?
• What is the function of the kidney in the body? [...]
Excerpt
There is a young child in the renal unit of a district hospital (a unit for patients with kidney problems). She is connected to a dialysis machine because her kidneys are not functioning. She desperately needs a kidney transplant. Th ere is no one in her family who can help. Doctors think that they will get a kidney for her soon and she is fi rst on the hospital waiting list. She will not survive much longer without a new kidney. [...]
Task
- Emergency: What is your advice to them? With a few other students, consider the choices and reasons. Decide on your advice to the doctors, then compare your decision with another group or with the class.
- An angry nurse: What would you advise the nurse to do and why? Talk about this issue with your group, decide on the right advice to give, then see whether others agree with your ideas.
- Black market: Share your thoughts on this moral dilemma with your group.
- What happens: Talk about a likely outcome, then tell it to the class.
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2 Responses to ““Organ donor controversy” – group reading”
The author of this worksheet did not provide me with an e-mail address and I have no idea what the answers for the lead-in are. I’ve done the research and that’s what I got:
1) 10 to 13cm (4-5 inches)
3) The normal position for a transplant is low down in the abdomen, well away from the position of normal kidneys. The transplant sits under the skin, and can be felt under the skin if you press hard, just above the pelvic brim – the pelvic brim is the bone you can feel just above the pocket on a pair of trousers.
It is not necessary, therefore, to remove someone’s own, failed kidneys in order to do a transplant. Exceptions are when these kidneys are often infected, and might cause problems after a transplant, Also, some people with polycystic kidneys have such large kidneys that there is no room in the side to put transplant, so that one of the polycystic kidneys must be removed. To remove someone’s old kidneys at the same time as a transplant would increase the risks of transplant failure, so that such operations are done before someone goes on the transplant list.
4) A kidney transplant operation takes about 2 hours. Most people go home about 10 days after their transplant.
5) Every day, your kidneys process about 200 quarts of blood to sift out about 2 quarts of waste products and extra water. The waste and extra water become urine, which flows to your bladder through tubes called ureters. Your bladder stores urine until you go to the bathroom.
I was not able to find the answer to no. 2. If you know the answer, please post it here. Thanks!
The answer to number 2 is 48hours if the kidney is transported in cool saline solution.