If one is to donate a kidney you see the absolute exclusion criteria is a BMI over 35 but a possible exclusion criteria is BMI 30 to 35. Have you guys noticed if hospitals do allow you to have a BMI between 30 and 35 and donate a kidney if you are otherwise healthy?
https://livingdonorsonline.org/kidney/kidneycontraindications.htm
Thanks!
Every transplant center has its own criteria, and every donor candidate is evaluated by their transplant committee individually. No generic answer for this, sorry. Best wishes.
I was a bit put out when our center told me I was too heavy and had to lose weight before donating. As Clark stated, every center is different, and I had read and seen about other places where weight was not an issue. I did lose weight and was not quite where they told me I needed to be. However, they finished the testing, had me examined by the donor doctor. The donor doctor said, even though the weight was not quite there, that I was healthy and fit enough for the surgery.
As said, it depends on the center and on the individual.
It seems that there are at least two solid reasons to encourage candidates to lose weight. One is that being overweight tends to increase the risks of the surgery itself (anaesthesia, infection, etc.). But another point is that kidney donors do have a set of things to be careful about, long-term. If they cannot manage to get their weight down for the donation, the staff worries about how well they would manage long-term management of their single-kidney life (which relates to things such as blood pressure management, which itself relates to...weight management: you get the point).
For what it's worth, my own center required donors to be below 30 BMI. I did it, but that last kilo took forever!
In any case, whatever weight requirements centers set, they're doing it with our own health in mind.
Good luck,
Snoopy