Tweet [1]
Turns out that Dutch show [2] was never going to save a life. But some education probably happened anyway. The last paragraph of this excerpt from the AP story [3] says it all for me. We have the same situation in America:
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – A television show in which a woman would
donate a kidney to a contestants was revealed as a hoax Friday, with
presenters saying they were trying to pressure the government into
reforming organ donation laws.Shortly
before the controversial program was to air, Patrick Lodiers of the
"Big Donor Show" said the woman was not actually dying of a brain tumor
and the entire exercise was intended to put pressure on the government
and raise awareness of the need for organs.The three prospective recipients were real patients in need of transplants and had been in on the hoax, the show said.
The program concept had received widespread criticism for being tasteless and unethical.
But Lodiers said that it was "reality that was shocking" because
around 200 people die annually in the Netherlands while waiting for a
kidney, and the average waiting time is more than four years. Under
Dutch rules, donors must be friends, or preferably, family of the
recipient. Meeting on a TV show wouldn’t qualify.