No Joke: Dutch Kidney-Donor TV Show a Hoax

Jun 03, 02:22 AM

Current Headlines: By TOBY STERLING

By TOBY STERLING

the Associated Press

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - A television show in which a woman would donate a kidney to a contestants was revealed as a hoax Friday, with presenters saying they were trying to pressure the government into reforming organ donation laws.

Shortly before the controversial program was to air, Patrick Lodiers of the "Big Donor Show" said the woman was not actually dying of a brain tumor as claimed and the entire exercise was intended to add pressure on the government and to raise public awareness of the need for organs.

The three prospective recipients were real patients in need of transplants and had been in on the hoax, the show said.

The program concept had received widespread criticism for being tasteless and unethical.

But Lodiers said that it was "reality that was shocking" because around 200 people die annually in the Netherlands while waiting for a kidney . The average wait is more than four years. Under Dutch rules, donors must be friends or, preferably, family of the recipient. Meeting on a TV show wouldn't qualify.

"I thought it was brilliant, really," said Caroline Klingers, a kidney patient who was watching the show at a kidney treatment center in Bussum, Netherlands.

"I know these transplant doctors, and I thought they'll never go and actually do it. But it's good for the publicity and there are no losers."

During the show, viewers were called on to express an opinion or vote for their favorite candidate by SMS text message for 47 cents. The show was produced by Endemol, which created "Big Brother ."

The Royal Netherlands Medical Association, known by its Dutch acronym KNMG, had urged its members not to participate and questioned whether the program might just be a publicity stunt.

"Given the large medical, psychological and legal uncertainties around this case, the KNMG considers the chance extremely small that it will ever come to an organ transplant," it said.

All of the country's transplant centers had said they would not cooperat e with the program .

Earlier in the week, the Cabinet declined suggestions from lawmakers to ban the program, saying that would amount to censorship.

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