Living Donors Online Message Board
Living Donation Discussion and News => Living Donation Forum => Topic started by: dco2010 on December 22, 2012, 07:26:08 PM
-
I was reading that transplant centers are not ok with taking donors say somebody that needs a kidney from the internet is that true ?
and how do we get around this if you cant find a donor from somewhere else
does anybody know about this ?
-
There have been of cases in which a hospital has been very suspicious that perhaps money is being secretly (and illegally) paid to the stranger in return for the "donation", so they may investigate more carefully. I don't know if there are any hospitals that automatically exclude internet solicited donors these days, as there have been so many genuine donations from strangers.
But keep in mind that there are a lot of things that a patient can do if he/she does not have a living donor:
--- if there is a relative, friend, neighbor, etc. who is willing to donate but is not a compatible blood type, sometimes a "swap" or "exchange" can be arranged among other patients in the same situation. www.kidneyregistry.org has a large data base and tries to make some matches.
--- the patient should make sure that relatives, friends, neighbors, co-workers, alumni, church/synagogue members, etc. are aware that a kidney is needed, and that living donation is an option. Sometimes once the need is KNOWN a volunteer comes forward from among these groups (either to donate a kidney directly, or through a "swap")
I hope this information is of some help.
best wishes,
Fr. Pat
-
Adding to what Fr. Pat said, I would ask the transplant hospital what their policy is regarding altruistic donors met via email, facebook or other social media BEFORE beginning a search campaign. Most hospitals now consider the internet to be an extended community, particularly for dialysis patients who may reach out to others after finding no mach via family or friends. But every center has their own rules. We changed hospitals after the first one was reluctant to evaluate strangers met online.
-
I found my recipient here on LDO. We went through his hospital & I think they were skeptical. They had a social worker chat with me over the phone to find out my reasons for doing this and get my back story. And once they cleared me for surgery they tried to find another pair to enter us into an exchange or chain. They wanted that so there was no appearance of me being compensated for donating....can't friends try to compensate friends though? I went with it. I suspect nobody could take my AB kidney but don't really know. In the end they said we were the best match so I donated to him directly.