antoine, he's a very famous british footballer, who was also very fond of lots of diferent women and lots of drink. he was given a new liver as he ruined his own one and then proceeded to carry on drinking and ruin this one.

He was a very famous and very, very good footballer in the late 1960s and early 70s. Even Pele said he was the best footballer he'd ever seen.

One of the very first, if not the first, to be a superstar in the footballing world when it was full of bald old men. Very fashionable and good looking, he slept his way around plenty of Miss Worlds and drunk enough booze to sink a ship.

He quit football at 26 and spent the rest of his life on the ****. He was an alcoholic (read: addicted to drink) and had a liver transplant in 2002. Because of his addiction, he found it very difficult to give up drink, and went back to boozing after the op. He's now critically ill in hospital with multiple organ failure, complicated by the anti-rejection drugs he was taking for the transplant.

For more, see: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4090840.stm


[Edited on 25-11-2005 by antonye]

My father was an alcoholic, so I feel qualified to comment ...
they cannot resist, so Best never ever deserved a transplant.

In my opinion he stole someone else's chance for a better life.

And as far as his family were concerned, I will bet that they have been waiting for him to kill himself with drink for a very very long time.

A fantastic, mesmerising footballer in his time.
Which doesnt have anything to do with him being a sad case for most of his life.

Nobody has the right to chose who gets allocated an organ, and certainly not based on lifestyle.

While it may be true that someone else may have not received the organ and died as a result, we may also have had an outcome where that organ went to waste as it could not be transferred in time, or Bestie died from complication, in surgery, or it was rejected by his body - all very likely possibilities.

Nobody decides to become an alcoholic, and with alcoholism all reason goes out of the window.

Alcoholism in George Best's life was only one small part of a vicious circle that kept him in self destruct mode, but the one thing that most people know him for.

A very sad tale, unfortunately.

i really am going off on a tangent here but i think you should be able to, and i think we are going that way. is it suffolk health authority who are now not giving hip and knee replacements to fat people?

I thought they did choose to a degree as to who would benefit the best from the people at the top of the list in most need ?

A "priority case" is not the same as choosing who gets what. Obviously there is some degree of waiting list based on who has the greater need, but this does not, and should not, rule out people based on *lifestyle*.

I've never really liked football, or the 'celebrity culture' and didn't really take much notice of George Best or his antics. Having said that, he's still a human being with people that love and care for him, and his untimely death will be a sad loss to them, and to some who hold to his legend.

His path in life has given him highs that few of us will ever experience, fame, adulation and the chance to sleep with a string of the world's most beautiful women. It's also bought him to incredible lows that most of us will never experience, and all the time his life has been in the glare of media attention.

Being human means that George Best has his failings, just like every one of us. Most of us don't experience the highest highs or the lowest lows - we tread the middle ground and maybe our failings as human beings don't result in such wild fluctuations in life. However, if there is one thing that I've learned in life is that all of us are walking a tightrope between success and failure. All of us. I guess the phrase "there but for the grace of god..." applies.

I've never suffered from addiction, but it doesn't have to be addiction that shoves you sideways off the tightrope. Bad judgement, life choices, disease, natural disasters or just pure bad luck can see even the most settled, affluent and self-satisfied lives crumble in the blink of an eye. I would just ask the less sympathetic people to ponder on that.

In terms of suitability for transplant - there are always if's, but's and maybe's. By definition we all enjoy motorcycling, does that mean that if we needed a transplant we should be ruled out because our lifestyle is higher risk?

again...apologies for going off topic here, but thats an interesting point Dickie.

If a person makes the effort to stay fit and stay out of hospital by regular exercise (running/cycling/aerobics) etc...are they then to be refused because they wear out there joints prematurely!!!

[Edited on 25-11-2005 by Harv748]

It is Suffolk Health Authority-Ipswich Hospital-they are several millions in the red and are having to make savings. I think the whole thing about overweight people not getting new joints until they lose weight has been siezed on by the press as a 'good' story. The actual fact of the matter is that ANY operation which involves a general anaesthetic is more risky if you are overweight and most surgeons will advise/insist that you lose weight before they will operate. Having said all that, if you are overweight and they replace a hip joint the repair is put under extra strain and is more likely to fail because of the extra loading-simple maths really.

John


[Edited on 25-11-2005 by Monty]