Canadian Man Receives Transplant From Domestic at Mayo Clinic

A wealthy Canadian developer received a living-donor kidney transplant from his live-in Filipina housekeeper at the Mayo Clinic after four Canadian hospitals refused to perform the operation on ethical grounds.

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that the Ontario Health Services Appeal and Review Board twice denied Murray Menkes reimbursement for the 1999 transplant, stating in the final rejection that the surgery was unacceptable "due to ethical concerns relating to the relationship between recipient and donor."

Surgeons at the Mayo Clinic said they were satisfied that the housekeeper was donating the kidney on her own initiative, and was acting on compasionate grounds.

But concern over whether an employee may feel pressure to donate an organ to the employer she depends on for her livelihood led to a refusal to perform the transplant by Toronto General Hospital, St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, London Health Sciences Centre and the British Columbia Transplant Society.

Had Menkes, 76, not sought reimbursement from the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, the story of his transplant would not have become public.

The Globe and Mail said Menkes only comment on the situation was: "I'm fine. I'm cured, but not by our system.''

Other sources: Globe and Mail