Outrage Over TVNZ's Heartless Donor Doco Chop

Organ donor families, recipients and medics are outraged TVNZ has axed an acclaimed local documentary about organ donation because it wasn't winning a ratings game.

With three episodes still to go, Situation Critical - a ground-breaking real life seven-part series which told the true stories of New Zealand organ donors and recipients - was taken off its 8pm, Wednesday night slot on TV One.

Not enough people watched the series, which medical professionals said did an excellent job heightening people's awareness of organ donation.

TVNZ's cold-blooded decision to replace it with a so-called "reality" show about tarting-up shabby hotels sparked a wave of anger and disappointment today.

"TVNZ is letting down a significant number of staff, families and people who have been involved in making the series by not showing the rest of it," leading paediatric heart surgeon Kirsten Finucane told National Business Review.

"What the organ donations people need is for families to sit around the table, or the barbecue, and chat about what they would want if they died suddenly," Dr Finucane, clinical director of paediatric cardiac surgery at Auckland Hospital, said.

"We are desperately short of donors now, and that's why we all agreed to produce the programme," Dr Finucane said. "The only way forward was to educate people in the need for tissues and organs and TV seemed to be the best way of doing it. A television programme could help discussion of a difficult subject."

"Many of the families who get rheumatic heart disease and need valves come from the poorer sectors of the community. They are not going to read, or hear about this through schools. They are going to have to hear about them from programmes on TV

"They are the ones who need the valves and we haven't got the supply," Dr Finucane said.

Organ Donation New Zealand clinical director Dr Stephen Streat said Situation Critical was an excellent series which could be screened anywhere, but it didn't "perform" for TVNZ. Dr Streat said he had seen a lot of similar programmes made in other countries and could say "without shadow of contradiction" Situation Critical was done in a very Kiwi understated and sensitive style.

"What you see is what you get. It is sensitive and respectful to all of the people involved, including the families, patients, donors, donor families and professionals."

"The importance and value of Situation Critical is it demonstrates beautifully the concept of respect," Dr Streat said.

"It's much more about treating people decently, something the New Zealand health care system does very well."

"All of us involved in the series were very disappointed by TVNZ's decision to dump it."

Organ Donation New Zealand, which co-operated in the making of the Starfish Pictures documentary, was astonished by the dumping of the quality Situation Critical series, according to communications adviser Melanie Selby.

"We are not happy about it but there's nothing we can do except urge people to complain to TVNZ," Ms Selby told National Business Review.

She said a linked workshop last week of more than 50 nurses couldn't believe TVNZ had pulled the series and were "very disappointed" it came down to a numbers game.

Ms Selby, herself in a donor family, said the last three episodes dealt mainly with donor families and recipients telling their own stories, some of which took many hours to put together in often emotional circumstances.

"I had to phone some donor families and tell them their episodes would not be shown. They and the recipients were so disappointed," she said.

Independent producer and kidney donor Jeff Cameron, of Starship Pictures, said everyone involved was proud of making Situation Critical and it should be run at prime time.

The series was made between last November and May with crew on standby 24 hours a day to follow organ recovery teams and operations.

Mr Cameron said he did not know the exact viewer numbers but what annoyed him was that the show which followed it, Castle a trivial American crime spoof rated only about 1% more.

Unhelpful TVNZ spin doctor Megan Richards would not allow NBR to speak to the person who made the decision to dump Situation Critical, but said it was pulled because it was "not performing" in its 8 pm Wednesday slot.

"We regard it as a very good show and it will come back, most likely still in a prime time slot but we haven't established a date for it yet," Ms Richards said.

She said programmeming was not a science, "it is an art and sometimes you don't know until you try."

A tetchy Ms Richards would not comment on whether a replacement show about tarting up shabby hotels would "perform" better or why TVNZ thought it would.

By Jock Anderson - National Business Review