Dedicated Donors

[Nancy]

Has anyone experienced recipients not being told who prespective donors are or how many volunteer prospective donors they have?  Also, if someone is over 21 would they ever be turned down because they are too youny?

[Fr Pat]

     I believe that the practice at most hospitals is NOT to tell the recipient the names of any prospective donors. This is to allow the prospective donors full freedom to change their minds and not proceed at any point. Of course a prospective donor may chose to personally tell the recipient that he/she is being tested to donate, but that is up to the donor, not the hospital.
     Hope this helps.
   best wishes,
        Fr. Pat

[sherri]

When speaking to one of the transplant nephrologists the other day, he was of the opinion that the hospital should not inform the donor of the recipient that they were going to be part of a chain or tell them how many people in the chain. He felt that this added more pressure if they decided to decline because then the chain falls apart. It is important that donors always feel that they can decline at any time if they decide elective nephrectomy is not for them. This obviously is more difficult for related or friend donors since the recipient sometimes asks people to test for them and conversations take place. In terms of your age, you are not excluded but I imagine that the work up would (should) include an intense psychological examination to make sure you are sure of your decision. You would also need to be educated clearly if there are increased risks for young donors related to future pregnancies or just by virtue of the fact that you need to have enough kidney reserve to live much longer with only one kidney. You can ask about specific research that includes younger donors.

Sherri

[SWB]

Nancy,

Even when I was donating to my Uncle the facility would not share any information with either of us about the other.  And, we each had separate transplant coordinators assigned.  Oddly enough they were not allowed to share some details among themselves.  It proved to be a pain in the butt; however, I understand from the facilities perspective why they have this practice.  I was allowed to divulge information directly that I wanted to share.  And, I was always told I could back out at any point and my Uncle would only be told that an issue arose making me a non-suitable donor.

Though it sounds odd, one of the primary goals is to ensure that donors are not pressured into donating and that they have the freedome to change their mind without worry of judgement.  Of course there are hosts of other reasons that they do it as well.

Good luck on your journey!

-Scott