Instead of sending out its usual New Year's resolution plea to make an organ donation, the Delaware Valley Transplant Program (DVTP) is enlisting the help of Internet users to break the damaging "email chain letter" of messages being distributed about a bogus organ-snatching scheme.
This case is just another example of how the Web is being exploited to deliver healthcare misinformation and why communicators need to replace bad information with the facts.
The myth, which has taken on various forms over the last nine years, claims that an unsuspecting person at a party wakes up several hours later in a bathtub full of ice to find a note that says his organs have been taken and to call 911"or face certain death." Similar organ-snatching scenarios have been dramatized on popular TV shows like "ER," "Chicago Hope" and "Law and Order," but in the last two years it has gained considerable momentum on the Internet, says Kevin Sparkman, DVTP's community relations manager via random email messages and non-commercial Web sites. Recently, the wife of a transplant surgeon in Philadelphia alerted DVTP about a bogus email message she received a few weeks ago.
Sparkman says myths like this are hard to debunk and require ongoing media relations efforts and informational initiatives. In addition to its New Year's resolution Internet plea that asks Web users to not forward bogus email messages on organ-snatching, DVTP sent a press release to local newspapers, radio stations and TV stations. DVTP also is:
- providing its employees and volunteers with information on how to respond to organ-snatching inquiries by first acknowledging the falsehood and educating about the organ donation process;
- addressing the myth during community-based educational programs; and
- including a "fast fact" message on its voicemail while callers are on hold.
On the national front, this issue hasn't been a major problem for the Coalition On Donation (COD), a nonprofit alliance of several coalitions nationwide, which addresses the myth in a "fact or fiction" section of its Web site. The section highlights several instances of misinformation and sets the record straight by posting relevant information on the safety of organ donation. Melissa Devenney, COD's senior communications manager, says that the organ-snatching story is particularly harmful because it causes people to become skeptical about organ donation. She adds that communicators should use it as a springboard to discuss the benefits of donating organs.
(DVTP, Kevin Sparksman, 215/557-8090; COD, Melissa Devenney, 804/330-8620)
Organ Donation Fast Facts
- More than 63,000 people in the U.S. are awaiting organ transplants.
- 11 people die each day because of the demand exceeds the availability of organs.
- 40 to 50 percent of families deny consent for organ donation when presented with the option in a hospital.
Source: DTVP