I talked to a kid today that anonymously donated one of his kidneys, simply because he felt it was the right thing to do. The procedure was over the summer, in between years of school (took him a couple months to recover).

There is about a 1:5-10k chance that you die during the procedure.
After donating the kidney, you are at no increased risk of death or renal failure during your lifetime (assuming you don't get a kidney tumor, or destroy one in a car wreck, where the other would come in handy).

Given these facts, what would it take for you to donate one? Family member? Cousin? Friend? Friend's family member? what is the cutoff for you?

I think my threshold is signfiicantly lower than the population, to the point where I would entertain the idea of volunteering one in the near future.

On a side note (mostly for dyz), why can't we sell our kidneys? the free market could bring a pretty hefty price, I imagine. How much would you be wiling to sell one for?

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Originally Posted by resilient

family or close friend

yep

seven pounds

I would have to imagine that mine is so damaged at this point that it wouldn't help anybody. Not really much of a decision when you drink like a fish like I do.

Can I get a wut's up from the drunks?!?!?!?!??!

I would do it for my cat in a second..

others not so fast. They would have to pay me pretty good.. like 20K ish or so

45k tax free

 

Originally Posted by Mikey Babes

Id be willing to do it for anyone that really needed it, kinda has me thinking i should do it, but thats not something you make an impulse decision on.

I mean, there are a shit ton of people that really need them. there are like 500k people on chronic dialysis right now (dialysis sucks the life out of you, and destroys your heart/blood vessels slowly). I would be surprised if I ever do it myself, but I have no idea why. there are a couple thousand live kidney donations a year, but the vast majority are friends/family. only a few places have anonymous donor programs, and I don't think it happens much at all.

why must it be a family member for everyone to do it, if the impact on them is so minor comparatively?

Family, family friends, neighbors, all of the above no doubt.

Would entertain the idea of volunteering too. I don't know what would push me over the edge to actually do it instead of saying I would do it, but wouldn't have a problem giving it up for someone I didn't know who was in need.

I'd wisper sweet nothings in your ear as you die.

family member or 10 million dollars

 

Originally Posted by Neeek

On a side note (mostly for dyz), why can't we sell our kidneys? the free market could bring a pretty hefty price, I imagine. How much would you be wiling to sell one for?

the obvious answer is that it gives the rich an advantage and most see organ transplants as something too important for wealth to be the deciding factor. whether it's a free market or not, the rich have a big advantage in getting the kidney, though. Through connections, bribery, black markets, the rich get a disproportionate number of organ donations. There are probably other health related causes for that as well.

The system doesn't seem very good now, but I don't know that a free market would be better. It would eliminate the organ going to the patient who it stands to benefit the most. It's also just a really uncomfortable thought that the poor in this country would be selling their organs to the rich. It would be amusing, though, to read the the OT threads of "why do we need (insert social program), they have 2 kidneys don't they?" I don't know the health risks (I'm assuming there are more than just the risk of immediate death), but it seems like a dumb decision to sell off future health for any reasonable amount of money. What would the minimum age to sell be? 18 is way too young, even 21 seems too young.

there should be some incentives provided for people to be organ donors, though. It should at least be the default that everyone is an organ donor unless they opt out. It's insane that there are X thousands of people on organ transplant lists and healthy organs are buried everyday.

family member, close friend, random kid that needs it and it will def help, $200k

 

Originally Posted by kellykip

I think I'm gonna grind kidney transplants - sell both here +$18K, plane ticket to Iran, (2) $1200 kidneys, fly back to USA, sell kidneys for $18K, fly to Iran, new $1200 kidney..... easy game

Plus, you can take like summers off and stuff.

a fine businessman...just don't go hiking?