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‘Too many transplant centres and too few donor organs’ are blamed for a scandal in Germany, where the medical council says some doctors manipulated health records to boost their patients’ position on waiting lists.
‘Too many transplant centres and too few donor organs’ are blamed for a scandal in Germany, where the medical council says some doctors manipulated health records to boost their patients’ position on waiting lists.
German medical authorities are calling for an extensive overhaul of the country's organ transplant programme after transplant centres across Germany were placed under criminal investigation over allegations that they had systematically manipulated donor waiting lists.
Scores of patients are believed to have been given priority access to donor organs after doctors falsified the severity of their illnesses to ensure they received treatment ahead of other patients in Europe.
The revelations have led to accusations of widespread corruption and dishonesty in the system, and shattered public trust. Since the scandal emerged last year as a handful of cases that were initially believed to be isolated incidents, the number of Germans willing to donate organs has plummeted.
Post-death donations have dropped by between 20% and 40%, according to the German foundation for organ transplantation (DSO), which said the public's faith had been "massively shaken".
