DONOR BANKS: Saving Lives with Organ and Tissue Transplants

by Sally Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1988

Up-to-date coverage of blood banks as well as current recycling of bone, corneas, skin, hearts, and other organs. Before examining the computerized networks that track, record, and bring substitute materials to needy patients, free-lance writer Lee explains, with a clear discussion of cell theory, why substitutions work, This background makes it possible to understand why, for instance, cadaver bone can be inserted and then disappear after serving as a framework for new bone. The process is detailed for each type of donation--e.g., following blood from the decision to donate to tests, identification, receiving, and transmission to a recipient. Technical words are printed in bold face. Opportunities are dramatic: a harvest of organs sometimes takes place--one person's have benefited four people. Also discussed are the delicate care necessary to preserve organs and such controversies as sale of organs, animal experimentation, and levels of consent. Lee concludes with a plea for awareness in the face of the current donor lack that resulted in Baby Faye receiving the heart of a baboon. Examples like the mother unable to care for her own children till she receives a transplant to forestall her blindness should impress young readers with the urgent need for donor banks. List of organizations; glossary; index.

Pub Date: March 1, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 96

Publisher: Watts

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1988

Categories: CHILDREN'S