Organ Donation for Transplant with Multiple Sclerosis

A recent blog post about the plight of Sherri Muzher and her struggle to be of use beyond her life by donating her organs (while still alive; thus hastening her death) spared a lively conversation in the comments section.  One of the questions and concerns tables was whether or not Ms Muzher’s organs and tissue would even be acceptable as transplant options for people in need. As I often do when we come upon a medical question in our discussions, I reached out to several experts for clarification.  In this case is was Dr James Bowen, M.D. of Swedish Neuroscience Institute.  Dr Bowen is not only a respected researcher and MS cliniction; he’s my doc.  You may remember him from a series of videos on living with MS from this past year.  He’s also my MS doc. Like many questions dealing with MS; there doesn’t seem to be a firm, singular answer to the question of the organs of a person with MS being “acceptable” for human transplant.  The regulations vary not only by country, but in America from state to state even. Firstly, the fact is that MS has not been transmitted by blood donations or organ transplants, so it appears to be safe to receive blood or organs from an MS patient. A good indicator as to your local authority’s view on MS organ donation may be as simple as asking if you can donate blood (basically an “organ” donation if you think about it from a strictly medical view).  But even this indicator may not be true litmus of the topic. Federally, blo...
Source: Life with MS - Category: Other Conditions Authors: Tags: MS multiple sclerosis clinical trials comments MS and family MS doctors MS in the news multiple sclerosis clinical trials multiple sclerosis cure research Source Type: blogs