Word: organ
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...idea of the quid pro quo, the something for something, lies at the heart of our very sense of fairness. But there's one area in which something for nothing is much closer to the rule, and it's a transaction on which people's very lives turn: organ donation...
About 90% of Americans say they support organ donation, but only 30% have actually signed up to part with their parts after they die. The cost of such an all-take, no-give setup is high. Nearly 100,000 patients in the U.S. are idling on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) matching list, waiting for a donor--and 18 a day will die waiting. The recent hoax in the Netherlands, in which reality-show contestants pretended to compete for an organ from a dying woman, was an effort to draw attention to the global scope of the problem...
...population of 300 million, the Lifesharers membership is tiny, and so far no member of the group has received an organ from another member. But Undis believes that as a proof of principle, Lifesharers shows how to fix the donor mess. If UNOS demanded what Lifesharers does and patients were required to register before they fell ill, he believes, the nation could essentially eliminate its organ shortage within three years. "It's a fair trade," he says. "I'll give you mine if you give me yours...
...hoax that fooled even the editors at TIME, the Netherlands' controversial Big Donor Show, in which three ill patients were supposed to compete to receive a kidney, turned out to be a publicity stunt to raise awareness about organ donation. Some patients waiting for transplants appreciated the idea, like one woman, who told the AP, "I thought it was brilliant, really." SCORE...
...fact advance beyond the effectiveness threshold of a planned economy, the Fainsod system—with its myriad dispersed committees—seems to have created confusion for students seeking a direct avenue to gather and voice a collective opinion. Looking for a more effective, centralized organ of student governance, undergraduates voted in 1978 to establish a 96-member body known as the Student Assembly. Though founded with optimism and ratified by student referendum, the Assembly never received official recognition from the University, nor did it receive any formal powers or funding. That the new body’s influence...