Selling Bone Marrow

Medical donation is a controversial issue in the US and implementation of the law boils down to the individual states. Bone marrow donation is included in this category. The bone marrow is a renewal part of humans just like blood which differentiates it from other organs like the heart or the kidneys. Both of which cannot be renewed again by the human body when lost.

Being a Donor Can be Painful and Difficult

An American citizen can get up to $3,000 when they sell their bone marrow. The procedure however is painful and there’s only 1-in-540 chance that potential donors will match genetically the intended recipients. This is the reason why the right bone marrow donors are much sought after.

Donating bone marrow is not so straightforward and could take a long time. You are first put in a donor registry list and when they need your services only then will you be contacted. It could take years before you are contacted to make a donation if they do contact you at all. This is not an easy and simple way to make money.

The donors face many potential risk from the medical procedure. They may include damage to the bones, nerves and the muscles in and around the hip area. Problems may also arise with the introduction of anaesthesia to the body. About 2.4% of patients experience these problems and other complications during the donation process.

Donor Insurance

This is the reason why most bone marrow donors are insured from such complications by the medical institutions that do such procedures. If you are a potential donor read the stipulations of the contract you sign with the medical institution and make sure that you are medically and financially covered if ever you suffer complications while donating which could result for example in you being disabled for life.

Helpful Articles

If all this talk of medical complications is scaring you to become a donor then read this article from Be The Match which explains a few facts about bone marrow donation in their article titled Myths and facts about bone marrow donation. The article may give you a clearer understanding about being a donor and may resolve some of your fears.

The Prodecure

Bone marrow donation operations are done in hospitals as an outpatient procedure. The hospital staff will monitor your condition until the effect of the anaesthesia is gone. The hospitals who perform the bone marrow extraction use different devices in the procedure but few do stitching procedures. What happens is doctors use needles to withdraw liquid marrow from both sides of the back of the donor’s pelvic bone.

In most cases the donors are discharged on the same day or at the latest the next day assuming they do not develop complications from the procedure. Donors can experience varying discomforts during the recovery stage. These can be back pain, bruising, fatigue, headache and others which could persist for up to weeks.

Donors are expected to make a full recovery in about 3 weeks. The body usually fully regenerates a lost bone marrow in about 4 to 6 weeks.

There are also now artificial bone marrows developed by American, German and Swiss scientists among others which could alleviate the situation of the general lack of matching donors.

Conclusion

It is up for you to decide whether the potential compensation you will be getting from becoming a bone marrow donor is worthwhile considering you will have to undergo a lot of discomfort and probably risk complications during the process. What is important is that you will have the potential to save a life which could be rewarding in another way.