Two sides of the same coin

[priceyfatprude]

Web kidney donor says he'll take polygraph
Man maintains he did not sell organ
Wednesday, October 27, 2004 Posted: 11:14 AM EDT (1514 GMT)

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) -- A man who gave up one of his kidneys in response to a commercial Web site solicitation said Tuesday he would be willing to take a lie detector test to show he did not sell the organ, despite claims to the contrary.

"I'm being treated like garbage by the media and I haven't even committed a crime," said Rob Smitty, 32.

In an October 20 operation in Colorado, Smitty gave a kidney to a man who had needed a transplant since 1999 due to kidney disease.

The recipient, Bob Hickey, met Smitty through MatchingDonors.com, a Web site created to match donors and recipients for a fee. Hickey paid the Web site $295 a month for three months to post his plea.

Both men have said there was no payment for the kidney, which would be a violation of federal law. There are no laws against soliciting an organ.

By finding Smitty, Hickey avoided a waiting list maintained by the United Network for Organ Sharing, a nonprofit group with a government contract to allocate all organs from the dead.

Smitty, of Chattanooga, said Hickey has written him checks of $950, $700 and $1,400 to help cover expenses and to compensate for time he has missed at work. Smitty said he was unsure how much additional compensation he would get.

"There is no contract," he said. Smitty said that in response to the many claims he has been paid for the kidney, "If I can reduce that number by taking a lie-detector test, I will."

Monique Kelso, spokeswoman in the FBI's Denver office, said the agency has not investigated the kidney transplant for any possible federal law violations.

"We haven't received any information or any complaints," she said.

After the transplant, news surfaced that Smitty was being sought on a civil warrant for failing to pay child support.

He said Tuesday that he would attend a court hearing Thursday on his $8,100 child support and medical payment debt.

"I've had cuffs put on me before and I may have them put on me again," he said. "I think it'll make them look bad to put a man who just donated a kidney in jail.

"If they are looking for perfect people to donate organs, they're not going to find anyone," he said. "There are none out there."


and

Organ donation turns into a lawsuit
Couple say ailing man owes them cost of trip to test kidney
By DAVID DOEGE
ddoege@journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 26, 2004
Waukesha - A Waukesha couple are suing a Sussex man for $1,001.49 that they say it cost them in travel expenses and lost wages for the husband's unsuccessful attempt at donating a kidney to the ailing Sussex man.

Raymond De La Cerna learned from a flier he picked up at a Sussex parade in July that Norbert Sebunia was in need of a new kidney after 30 years of diabetes, according to the small claims lawsuit filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court.

In September, De La Cerna took off five days of work to undergo testing at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., only to learn that his kidney wasn't healthy enough to be donated, the lawsuit says.

But when Sebunia sent De La Cerna a check to cover the cost of his efforts, it was worth $262.95, $1,001.49 short, according to the lawsuit.

"So, we would appreciate if you could send a check or money order as you promised as soon as possible," De La Cerna and his wife said in a letter they sent to Sebunia earlier this month, according to their lawsuit. "Again, we are very sorry Ray can't help you, but praying someone else will come forward, be healthy and can give you a better chance at life."

A hearing on the the small claims suit has been set for Nov. 15 in Waukesha County Circuit Court and, although Sebunia hasn't been served with a copy of it yet, he expects to appear in court and contest it.

"I have to go to court," Sebunia said Tuesday. "I paid him roughly $800 altogether and that's all he'll get.

"We had a fund-raiser because we couldn't afford things as it was. I'm just flabbergasted by this whole thing."

The lawsuit filed by Raymond and Debra De La Cerna says that they received a copy of a flier Sebunia's live-in caretaker, Nola Breiling, distributed at the Sussex Lions Daze parade on July 18.

"Norbert would like to live a better, more active dialysis-free lifestyle that a kidney transplant offers," the flier says at one point.

"Norbert needs a donor with O-positive blood type," it says at another point. "Could that donor be you?"

Because Raymond De La Cerna had the right blood type, he contacted Sebunia, met with members of the media about the potential donation and underwent tests at the Mayo Clinic from Sept. 13 to 17, losing out on $763.04 in wages in the process, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit says De La Cerna and his wife also incurred $354.32 in motel expenses; $90.21 in fuel costs; paid $25 for parking; and spent $131.57 on meals.

After deducting the $262.95 that Sebunia sent them, they are still owed $1,001.49, the lawsuit says.

Sebunia, 62, says he paid the De La Cernas more than $500 in cash in addition to the check and he can afford no more.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't tell him to talk to you people (the media) and that I'd pay his missed wages for that," Sebunia said. "He wants money for overtime and a motel upgrade. I'm not paying that.

"He wants money that was raised in a fund-raiser but that is set aside for the eventual donor."

Breiling said the lawsuit made her and Sebunia "very, very, very sad."

"It's so depressing, we haven't been able to sleep," she said. "We're so disheartened by this."

Worst of all, says Sebunia, is that Raymond De La Cerna's incompatibility left him without a potential donor.

"I had someone else lined up but let him go because of Ray," Sebunia said. "I just can't understand how things turned out this way."

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Speaking of shitweasels, De La Cerna lives in my city. *evil grin* What a ****tard. No one held a gun to your head asking you to get tested.

And what if you'd been compatible? What then? They have to practically saw you in ****ing half to get a healthy kidney out of you to give it to someone else. There is the hospital stay, the painkillers, the time off work. I really don't doubt that after he'd donated the kidney, he would've sent this guy a bill for it. Which is still illegal in this country.

Why can't they all be like the first one? WHY?

This is why the drug they're testing in Orlando is so important, for me anyway. Pray that my flight confirmation comes through, guys. and keep your kidneys healthy, just in case.