Kidney Donation Chain

The following is from John Faherty, Gift of kidney begins string of organ donations, The Arizona Republic, July 22, 2007:

A chain of small miracles started in Phoenix last week.

It began when a Michigan man decided to donate one of his kidneys to a person he had never met.

His decision means a Phoenix woman will be able to watch her grandchildren grow up. But it does not stop there. Now the Phoenix woman’s husband will donate one of his kidneys to a perfect stranger. That woman’s best friend will then do the same. And so on and so on.

Eventually eight people, and possibly far more, will be saved because of the marriage of good will and medical technology.

This kidney chain – the first of its kind – is possible because of a new type of organ donation called a paired donation.

It happens when someone who needs a kidney has a person who is willing to donate one, but their body chemistry prevents a good match.

In a paired donation, those two people will be connected with two other people in the same situation.

Each healthy person then donates a kidney to someone who needs it.

The only unusual thing is that the donors are helping strangers directly in order to indirectly help the person they love.

According to Dave Undis, Kidney donation chain, LifeSharers, July 26, 2007:

Some people have been concerned that paired donations violate the National Organ Transplant Act’s prohibition against donation for “valuable consideration” because they involve donation of a kidney in exchange for another kidney. President Bush is expected to soon sign legislation clarifying that these types of organ donations are legal.