Methadone

[JD29]

My wife is being evaluated for liver transplant right now because she has severe Hepatopulmonary Syndrome. My son would like to be a living donor but I'm not sure whether he would even be considered. He was addicted to Fentanyl for a couple of years and for 8 years before that he used drugs and alcohol too much. He has been on Methadone treatment for 3 years now and I think it is as bad as any street drug to get off of. The other issue he had was that he had 2 collapsed lungs as a teenager which were both surgically repaired (they were not caused by any trauma, he was one of those tall thin teenaged boys that this can happen to, and they were surgically repaired by "gluing' them to his chest cavity to allow them to heal) Even with this, he still smokes a pack a day. I really think he wants to do this for his mum to redeem himself for all the crap he put us through for 14 years. They are both hoping that this will be the solution for her, I'm worried they are going to get their hopes up too high. Anyone have any experience regarding this? Would an active Methadone user be considered for living donor status or would he have to be  off of it for a certain amount of time before he's considered? Any input would be really appreciated.

[CK]

As part of the process when I donated my kidney, I had to meet with a psychiatrist to determine if I was psychologically healthy to donate.  I'm going to guess that if the medical stuff doesn't disqualify him, his history of addiction will - only because they would not want to compromise his recovery or mental health in any way (and most addicts have underlying mental health issues).  Has he started the process?

[Fr Pat]

     Liver donation is much more serious and dangerous than kidney donation because of the very traumatic surgery involved. So they usually insist that a living liver donor be in VERY good condition, and it sounds like he may have too many health problems to be considered. That being said, if he WANTS to donate I think he should tell the hospital that and ask to be evaluated. They will probably tell him "No" because of his health history, but it might mean a LOT to your wife just knowing that he tried. When we are very sick it can be of great emotional help just knowing that someone loves us so much as to TRY to help.
   Fr. Pat