Making sure kidney donors fare as well as promised

[Clark]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_HEALTHBEAT_KIDNEY_DONORS?SITE=KYB66&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Making sure kidney donors fare as well as promised
By LAURAN NEERGAARD

More and more people are donating one of their kidneys to a loved one, a friend, even a stranger, and now a move is on to make sure those donors really fare as well as they're promised.

Specialists insist the surgery rarely brings serious complications for the donor. What's less certain is the risk of any long-term health consequences, in part because transplant centers can lose track of donors after they go home.

"Who's taking care of the donor after the surgery? Really, no one is," says kidney donor Krystal McLear, 32, of Indian Head, Md., who serves on a committee for the network that runs the U.S. organ transplant system.

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