I’ve had an organ donor card in my wallet for as long as I can remember and I’ve always made it very clear to my loved ones that I want all my organs to be used when I die.
My question is, given that I only need one kidney, would it be better if I were to donate the other one right away rather than after my inevitable demise?
Obviously, my organs won’t be used in the unlikely event that I die in some unrecoverable way, like being lost at sea or something. And there’s always the possibility that a close relative might need a kidney at some point, so I should arguably save it for them.
Is there some other reason to do it now?
It’s actually quite rare for organs to be able to be donated upon death. The donor needs to either be brain dead but clinically alive, or otherwise the organs need to be harvested very rapidly following death or else they will deteriorate past the point of being viable for donation. So, donating a kidney now would ensure it goes to a person in need, whereas being a registered organ donor and hoping the circumstances of your death will facilitate organ donation will give them about a 1% chance of going to someone.
If someone donates a kidney to a stranger and later on something happens and they need a kidney transplant themselves, do they get a bump up the waiting list? I can see an argument for either side.
Nothing said about it either way here but it does state that the risk of later developing kidney disease for living donors is only around 1 in 200, because they’re screened for having healthy kidneys. And not all of those who do will require a kidney transplant. So, very low risk eventuality.
I think the waiting list is as much about finding a match as waiting in line? I’d imagine a living donor who themselves needed a donor would have a better chance than most of finding a stranger willing to donate to them. It’s the kind of story that tends to hit local, and sometimes national, news. And with many ‘stranger’ living donors coming forward, it would probably identify many other suitable matches as a result. So, at least you’d get the chance to save many more lives if you were one of the unlucky ones.
That’s a really good point. Thanks for the answer!
They don’t. The most important consideration is will the person take care of the donated organ and will the donation have an impact.
To be clear, kidneys need steady and high blood pressure to continue functioning. So let’s say you have a heart attack, then your able to recover circulation but your brain was hypoxic and you’re later shown to be brain dead. In that case there’s also a high chance to be in some state of kidney failure and needing dialysis.