Published: September 20, 2006

'California Connected' Delves Into The Debate of Organ Donation

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The Wait for Life

California Connected travels to San Francisco to examine the controversial issue of organ transplants - an issue so controversial that it has resulted in lawsuits, hospital closures, even death.

There are almost 20,000 people waiting for life-saving organs in California, and by national averages, almost a third of them will die waiting. Getting an organ not only depends upon how sick you are - but on where you live. For example, San Francisco has one of the longest waiting times in the country (58% wait for at least three years) while less than a hundred miles away, in Sacramento, the wait time is much, much shorter (only 14% wait that long).

Why the discrepancy?

California Connected examines that issue as correspondent Bob Jimenez hears first-person accounts from a man still waiting after seven years, and a man who had to go to China for a liver.

California Connected also witnesses firsthand the transplant operation on an 11-month old baby, lucky enough to get a new liver from her mother.

Please Check Local Listings for show times, September 22

California Connected is an award-winning, news magazine produced through a unique collaboration of four PBS stations: KCET-Los Angeles, KPBS-San Diego, KQED-San Francisco and KVIE-Sacramento.

www.californiaconnected.org
www.mprm.com

alan@newsblaze.com