The patient had the organ transplanted at a hospital in Ohio in December and died in January, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Lynn Sutfin said.
A subsequent investigation that also involved the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ohio Department of Health determined the patient got rabies from the donated organ. Sutfin did not specify which organ was transplanted.
A quick search shows rabies testing is $80 to ~$200. Given the cost and time a transplant takes I would say testing for rabies would be insignificant. But health insurance companies are assholes so they probably would not cover the cost due to the rarity of the disease. Cheaper for them to let people die and families sue.
That’s fair, but where do you draw the line at testing for diseases? There are so many things a patient could have. I don’t think its just about insurance companies.
Edit: my point is, at some point you are wasting precious time for the people who need the organs, and they might die. Testing for extremely rare disease/illnesses might even be considered irresponsible. You’re getting diminishing returns testing for super rare stuff, and since there are so many things that are rare, you have to make a call about what to actually test.
It takes 24-72 hours to confirm if an animal has rabies. That’s just not time that organ donations have.
Are you responding to the right person? That was kind of my point. Patients die waiting for test results.
I think they were agreeing with you
Yeah, I see that now. I assumed they meant to respond to OP.