Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T09:40:45.102Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Altruistic Organ Donation: On Giving a Kidney to a Stranger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2022

Leonard Fleck  and
Arthur Ward
Leonard Fleck
Affiliation:
Center for Ethics and Humanities in the Life Sciences, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
Arthur Ward*
Affiliation:
Lyman Briggs College, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In the following interview, philosophers Leonard Fleck and Arthur Ward discuss the latter’s recent experience of being a nondirected kidney donor. The interview took place in the Center for Bioethics and Social Justice at Michigan State University.

Keywords

kidneydonationaltruismorgan
Type
Research Article
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 31 , Issue 3 , July 2022 , pp. 395 - 399
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1. In 2018, there were 786,000 patients in the United States living with kidney failure. Roughly, 554,000 were receiving dialysis; the remainder were surviving with a kidney transplant. In 2020, there were approximately 90,000 individuals on the national transplant list awaiting a kidney transplant. In 2020, there were 5,725 living donor kidney transplants; in 2019, there were 7,397 living donor transplants. Roughly, 23,000 kidney transplants occurred that year, the remainder being cadaveric transplants. Roughly, 30% of kidney patients on the transplant will either die on the list or be removed from the list to die shortly thereafter. The average wait for a kidney transplant is 2.5–3.0 years. Roughly, 37-million Americans are living with chronic kidney disease. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Kidney Disease Statistics for the United States; 2021; available at https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/kidney-disease (last accessed 21 December 2021).

2. Donors must pass a psychological screening. Each transplant center does this differently. At the University of Michigan, every donor must speak with a social worker at the hospital. Non-directed (altruistic) donors have a second, more intensive, screening with a specialized psychologist. This just reinforces the point that they are trying VERY hard to weed out people who might regret their decision.

3. Kierkegaard, S. The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening. Vol. 19. Hong, HV, Hong, EH, trans. and eds. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press; 1980 [1843], at 91.Google Scholar