notpeternotpete t1_j4s184i wrote on January 17, 2023 at 9:27 PM

Reply to comment by Astavri in Dad donates kidney to stranger after daughter's transplant by Roshanrapha

Nope! She intentionally wanted to start the chain.

The transplant team’s social worker and clinical psychiatrist did require her to have conversations with my father, my siblings and I individually to talk about how we’d feel if we did someday need a kidney and she wasn’t able to donate to us - we all felt the same way, which was that we didn’t feel that she owed us even the potential of a kidney donation, much less the organ itself. Thought that was an interesting part of the process!

thecityofthefuture t1_j4t291b wrote on January 18, 2023 at 1:36 AM

The National Kidney Registry will let you designate 5 people to get "vouchers" that put them at the top of the list if they later need one. I donated to a stranger in September and my parents, wife, and kids all have vouchers if they need a kidney someday.

yesgirlsusereddit t1_j4utolo wrote on January 18, 2023 at 12:26 PM

That's good information to know, thank you!

srpsychosexythatisme t1_j4skm5f wrote on January 17, 2023 at 11:33 PM

This is interesting. I work in the dialysis field and know of the transplant exchange system, But never stopped to think that this makes sense vs finding 2 donatees that will just be swapped out with each other. I mean, that would just be a longer process/wait time that would not be very practical at all.

Aalnius t1_j4uhji9 wrote on January 18, 2023 at 9:59 AM

its really weird that she was required to talk to her family about this as if we owe family members our organs.

Luuk341 t1_j4v29tm wrote on January 18, 2023 at 1:42 PM

I dont think its an "owe" thing.

I had been reading this whole thread and it never even occurred to me that one of MY family members would even need one my kidneys.

Aalnius t1_j4v69l3 wrote on January 18, 2023 at 2:13 PM

the bit where it said they were required to talk to their family about it makes it seem like the organs are owed to the family and they have to sign off on you giving the organs away.

Which feels absurd, if it was just a matter of making the patient aware their organs could be used for family they could just state that in the disclaimers.