Amsterdam
Millions of Dutch viewers tuned in last week to watch a reality show in which they could choose which of three dying patients was to receive a donor’s healthy kidney. The Big Donor Show wasn’t as tacky as it sounds, though—it turned out to be a hoax. Producers wanted to raise awareness of the dire shortage of organ donors. The ruse worked. TV station BNN, which aired the program, said that 18,000 people downloaded organ–donor forms from their Web site that very night. Education Minister Ronald Plasterk pronounced the show “a fantastic stunt.”
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