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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 1996)
EDITOR Doug Kouma OPINION EDITOR Anne Hjersman EDITORIAL BOARD Doug Peters Matt Waite Paula Lavigne Mitch Sherman Anthony Nguyei , -i - Hard call lYansplant policy prioritizes lives From The Indianapolis Star. Mickey Mantle’s death shortly after re ceiving a donor liver raised questions about the propriety and fairness of somotransplant operations. Mantle suffered from cirrhosis for sev eral years and had been advised numerous times by his doctors to quit drinking. i nere was a perception, warranted or not, that Mantle’s name and money got him the organ. Given his history, his age and gen eral health, the transplant was considered by some to be imprudent, even wasteful. At the bottom of such thinking is the fact that there aren’t nearly enough livers avail able for people who desperately need them. About 7,200 people are on waiting lists, and each day eight to 10 of them die for lack of a suitable donor. That situation won’t change under the new policy approved by the United Network for Organ Sharing, which sets nationwide policies for all organ transplants. What will change is the category of patient that will receive liver donations. People suffering from chronic liver fail ure due to alcoholism or hepatitis will be purged from the top of waiting lists. Hepati tis is common among intravenous drug us ers. Persons with acute liver illness — those who became ill suddenly and are expected to die within two weeks—will be given pri ority status. In some cases, the sickest pa tient will be considered even if he or she is not in critical condition. Supporters say the change was prompted by the continuing shortage of donors, not by allegations that money and prestige played a part in such highly publicized transplants as those of Mantle, actor Larry Hagman and former Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey. They aren’t trying to punish alcoholics or drug users, supporters contend, but favor groups that can benefit most from a trans plant andean be counted on to observe good postoperative health care. The selectivity, however, bothers some physicians. One noted that those being purged are often the most critically ill. Weeding them out, he said, is tantamount to refusing to treat smokers for lung cancer or obese people for heart ailments. That would be the case if there were no shortage of donors, but there is. By contrast, there is no shortage of treatment facilities for 1 cancer and heart patients. Deciding who will live or die is a dread ful responsibility, one that becomes more burdensome as medicine advances. The change in liver transplant policy is bad news for some groups but it is a reasonable re sponse to the anguishing imbalance between supply and demand. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 19% Daily Nebraskan. They do not nec essarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its stu dent body or the University of Nebrasl a Board of Regents. A column is soley the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Edito rial Board. The UNL Publications Board, es tablished by the regents, supervises the pro duction of the newspaper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in tt**» ’ r - • employees. Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let ters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submit ted material becomes the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affilia tion, if any. Submit material to: Daily Ne braskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. E-mail: letter 1 info.unl.edu. I [ Modem mama Elimination of the dial-in modem pool (DN Dec. 5) is a giant step backward for the university, taken at a time whep all resources should be focused on making Ul9L, and Nebraska, for that matter, a stopping place on the burgeoning information superhighway. Contrary to the current plan, the modem pool should be renewed and updated and (as has been done at other school^) students should be offered lifetime access to the Internet through the university system. Any other plan is shortsighted and mistaken. ■; • , * The 21st century is not a science fiction possibility but a real and present opportunity which the university rejects to its detriment. Where, today, are all the little towns the railroad passed up in 1896? Mark Baldridge senior English Top-notch work I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Anthony Nguyen for writing such intelligent and well written columns for the Daily Nebraskan. I have saved and shared many of these columns with friends here in Lincoln and throughout the United States. His latest column on Dec. 2 concerning the United Nations and the United States especially deserves to be re-read over and over again. Thanks once again for writing such well thought-out and intelligent columns! There are like a breath of fresh air! I wish you all the best in your future endeavors. Jim Anderson Nebraskans for Peace Jason Gildow/DN Ideological debate Something that has always baffled me is the (unfortunately) common notion that if someone has a different opinion, then that person must be wrong and must therefore be subject to personal attack and ridicule. This defies all logic. Are we so insecure in our own beliefs that we have to vindictively oppose any others? I’m referring to Nick Wiltgen’s column on the role of morality in government (DN Nov. 26) and the ensuing replies from the community. Any debate or problem has many angles to it, and he was just voicing a logical, lucid argument of his stance. If you don’t agree: fine, don’t agree. If you do agree: fine, agree. But if you don’t agree and you want to voice your opinion as a rebuttal, then at least have the fortitude to take the time to learn the facts, create a concise logical argument and politely counter the points he made. This ------ hi i i ..I [ goes for any debate, not just this one. For the first reply, we had a journalism professor lay into Nick, basically saying that this column was a front for the legalization of alcohol for minors, and that Nick should be ashamed of himself, etc. I have to question where this teacher got his degree because he did not display any of the journalistic skill that earned his position. Where was his argument? What points was he trying to make in relation to the column written? He simply blew Nick’s example out of proportion and then personally attacked him. The second reply by Brett Otte was similar in nature, although he had more validity to his statements. He did unnecessarily attack Nick, but did provide thoughtful counter examples. Brett saw that this argument has many applications (abortion, gun control, drinking, welfare, prostitution, drugs and any law ever legislated that relates to public safety) and that, to be honest, it does have loopholes. Nick’s column made me think — and I’m sure a lot of people can at least agree on that point. He com posed an argument for how much morality the government should legislate and where it should draw the line. This debate has been going on for millenia and applies to almost every aspect of our lives. It is short sighted to believe that he would spend his time thinking of ways to persuade America’s public to legalize drinking for all ages. This is an institute of higher learning, and personal attacks on anyone don’t engender learning nor do they invite much respect for the wisdom of the attacker. Zach Niemann junior music performance and philosophy % ..Ml - .... .....1 .PS .._.-.-.-.-.r.;. .!.‘ 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 "R" St., Lincoln, 472-1761. or e-mail. <letters nlinfo.nnl.edu. .includ hione number •erification