Transplant man on a waiting list

One UK hospital says Billy Burke is too ill for surgery, another says he's fit, writes Eithne Donnellan.

One UK hospital says Billy Burke is too ill for surgery, another says he's fit, writes Eithne Donnellan.

Billy Burke, the 29-year-old cystic fibrosis sufferer from Killorglin, is one of more than 30 Irish patients currently waiting for lung transplants.

What is unusual about his case is that one hospital in the UK claims he is too ill to have a lung transplant, while another says he is suitable and it is willing to perform the operation.

After being on a waiting list for a transplant at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for 30 months, Mr Burke was turned down by the hospital for the operation in February 2003. The decision was taken on the basis that it would be too risky to do the transplant.

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He sought a second opinion and four months later, in June 2003, he was assessed at the Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester and deemed suitable for a transplant. But according to the Burke family and the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland, this was "subject to a suitable donor being available from the Irish organ pool".

This was when Mr Burke ran into problems. The Newcastle hospital has had exclusive access to all lungs from the Irish donor pool in return for carrying out lung transplants for Irish patients since 1999.

The Burkes said Billy stood no chance of a transplant unless this arrangement was relaxed because Newcastle would not provide him with lungs. Mr Burke claimed the Newcastle hospital was acting recklessly and playing God. He urged the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, to intervene.

The issue of transplantation is complex. It is not as if lungs donated by Irish people are being stored in the Newcastle hospital, waiting to be transplanted at the behest of a politician. Lungs are transplanted into patients as they become available based on clinical need, blood group compatibility and other factors.

And as Dr Freddie Wood, director of the Irish lung transplant unit, which opened a few weeks ago at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, explained yesterday, it is a principle of organ allocation that sex, colour, race, religion or politics do not determine where or to whom organs go.

Wythenshawe Hospital confirmed yesterday this is the principle under which it operates its transplant programme.

Furthermore, and something which was not apparent until now, it said Mr Burke is on its transplant waiting list and will have "the same priority as other patients on our transplant waiting list". There are 35 people awaiting double lung transplants at the hospital.

The impression has taken hold in recent days that Mr Burke is not on any waiting list and therefore has no hope of getting a transplant. This is obviously not the case. Ms Lisa Burke, a sister of Billy, said this was news to her family and good news at that.

However the issue of whether Irish lung donations should follow Irish patients regardless of which hospital is doing the transplant is something the Burke family and the Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ireland wants examined.

It seems to be a complex issue as three-quarters of the 44 Irish patients who received lung transplants in the UK since 1999 were transplanted with organs donated by British citizens. It is likely only one third of these would have been transplanted if they had to depend on Irish organs, Dr Wood said.

The interdependence between the two countries in respect of organ donations seems to benefit many Irish patients.