http://www.dnaindia.com/mumbai/report_kidney-stent-not-low-iq-behind-donation-denial-govt-panel_1634007Kidney stone, not low IQ, behind donation denial: Govt panel
The State Authorising Committee for Organ Transplant has ruled out the donation of a kidney by a mentally- challenged woman to her brother, saying the organ has a large stone.
Ajeet Vayklip, hailing from Chhattisgarh, was to receive a kidney from his sister Sonia. However, Lilavati Hospital declined to process their papers on the grounds that Sonia had a low IQ, following which the siblings approached the Bombay high court.
The HC then asked Lilavati Hospital to forward the papers to the authorising committee for scrutiny.
On Thursday, the committee informed the high court division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice Roshan Dalv, that according to the medical papers submitted by Sonia, she had a stent fitted in her right kidney. Moreover, the ultrasound report of August 2011 showed that she had a large kidney stone in her left kidney.
Assistant government pleader GW Mattos informed the court that since the donor’s (Sonia’s) kidneys were not fit, one of them could not be donated to her brother. Furthermore, Mattos brought up a supreme court judgment, which states that a donee has to obtain a No Objection Certificate from his or her parent state even if the organ donation is in another state. “Since they are from Chhattisgarh, they have to get an NOC from the authorising committee there,” said Mattos.
Mattos added that they could overlook technicalities when human life was at stake, but in this case, the donor herself would be at risk if the transplant was allowed. “We make exceptions on humanitarian grounds. But here it would be taking one life to save another,” he said.
According to the original petition, Lilavati Hospital refused to process the papers since Sonia’s IQ, gauged from a psychiatric and clinical psychology test, was less than the required 80%. There is no provision under the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, which says that a donor having a low IQ cannot donate an organ, contends the petition.
The petitioners have sought time to get an opinion from an independent doctor regarding whether Sonia’s one kidney can be donated.