AIDS killed Charles Tolbert's kidneys, and it seemed the disease had killed his chances of getting a kidney transplant. In those days, AIDS patients couldn't expect to live long enough to receive a transplant, said Dr. Robert Scott. That is no longer the case. CNN's Don Knapp reports Powerful new drugs for treating AIDS are promising patients longer lives. So HIV patients get organs that would otherwise not be used.
Some doctors view that as a life-saving compromise to an ethical issue.
But, with 15,000 people waiting for transplants and only about 5,000 likely to receive one, other doctors worry that giving organs to AIDS patients could discourage organ donation. The University of California at San Francisco plans to give organ transplants only to those AIDS patients who have prospects for a good qualify of life for a long time. For Tolbert, a transplant would mean a release from being hooked to a kidney dialysis machine three times every week for three hours at a time. It just really raised my hopes. Correspondent Don Knapp contributed to this report.