Medical expert of the article
New publications
The biggest scandal in the history of German transplantation
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
In the clinic of the city of Göttingen they sold seats in the queue for the transplantation of donor organs, that is, in fact they were selling the right to life. At least one child as a result and did not wait for a transplant - died.
Patients who have someone else's heart beating in their chest, who have been transplanted to the liver, kidney and those who are just waiting in the endless queue for surgery, meet once a week. Usually they say about the pleasant. But not today, when they found out that at the university clinic of Goettingen, doctors simply traded the right to life.
"I saw people die in this hospital because they did not wait their turn to have a heart transplant." Recently, I met the family, their baby was waiting for the kidney and lung. "Now I heard that he did not survive," Sevink Merkit said.
Illegally, at the university clinic, at least 25 organ transplants were performed, that is, half of all such operations that were done there in a year. This is the loudest scandal in the history of German transplantology. Those who stood in line for a transplant do not understand how it was possible at all.
"In Holland, Leiden has a European Eurotransplant center in Holland, they have a computer base and potential donors and patients who are waiting for transplantation." When the body is ready for transplant, not the doctor, but the Eurotransplant is asked who is next in line, "says Ingo Yager.
In order to quickly get the right organ, the clinic forged both analyzes and medical records so that the documents do not mean the urgent patient was on the verge of life and death. So he received priority. How much these services cost, is still unknown. The Prosecutor's Office reluctantly shares information. The Association for Organ Transplantation is recognized in complete helplessness.
"Now there is no monitoring mechanism to exclude such frauds in the future.In the entire German medical community, no one could have imagined that the doctor could report the wrong results of the tests," says the head of the German Medical Association for Organ Transplantation, Hans Lilie.
Every day in Germany, three people are killed because they did not wait for a new heart, liver or kidney. To change this situation, the German Bundestag recently adopted a new law on transplantation.
Since November 1 of this year, every resident of Germany should have at all times a certificate of the organ donor. It is necessary to enter your name, surname, date of birth, address, and on the reverse side, answer the clearly stated question: do you agree that after your death the organs were used for transplantation. If for some reason you can not answer this question, then write down the name of the relative who is able to make a decision for you.
The medical community is afraid that people who have written "no, do not agree" after this scandal in Germany will be more and the right to life will be lost by those who really can not wait.