Organ Transplant Expert Answers Our Viewers Questions About Kidney Sales

Nov. 22, 2007 — -- Dr. Arthur Matas is a professor of surgery and director of the Renal Transplant Program at the University of Minnesota. Matas is also a former president of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

You submitted your questions about kidney sales. Read Matas' answers below:

Question: How can I participate in kidney sales? Shelly, Harrisburg, Pa.

Matas: Currently, compensation for donation is against the law. Congress would have to change the law before we could establish a program like this. It is possible that there would not be a complete change, so that programs of compensation could be started everywhere. But, at first, there might be a change in the law so that a trial could be done.

Question: Would you have to have led a very healthy lifestyle to qualify to donate, or sell, a kidney? How would living with one kidney effect my quality of life? Suzanne, Ramsey, Minn.

Matas: The major tests that one has to undergo to be a donor are blood and X-ray tests. The prospective donor would also have to have a complete physical and psychological evaluation. The tests are designed to make sure that the prospective donor has two good kidneys, is healthy enough to tolerate the operation, and has no diseases that would affect the kidney or be transmitted with the transplant.

The major risk to the donor is the surgery itself. If all goes well, the recovery time is about six weeks and after that there should no impact on lifestyle. Donors can return to doing anything that they were doing before donation. When we have done quality-of-life studies in donors, we find that, on average, donors have a better quality of life than the age-matched general population.

Question: Is there a particular age at which a healthy person's kidney would no longer be considered as viable for using in a transplant? Barbara, Newport Beach, Calif.

Matas: There is no absolute age cutoff at which we would turn a donor down. But we also have to worry about the risk of the surgery to the donor. As one gets older the risks are higher. We have done donor operations on donors in their late 60s and early 70s.

Question: What about people living with HIV or other diseases which can be spread through blood? Are they eligible to donate to other people who have the same disease? Mark, Atlanta

Matas: In general, people living with HIV or other similar diseases cannot give kidneys to others with the same disease. Part of the concern is that there are many different types of the same viruses. The kidney may transmit a different virus type and make the recipient sicker.

Question: Who will pay the $60-70,000 that my kidney is worth? The government or the insurance company?Patti, Austin, Texas

Matas: If the system were set up, it would be the recipient's insurance or the government that would provide the donor compensation. Currently, private insurance or the government (Medicare) pays for dialysis, and dialysis is much more expensive than transplantation. Thus, in the long run it would be cost-saving or cost-neutral to pay the donor. In fact, for the altruistic donations that we do today, the recipient's insurance company (or Medicare) pays for all of the medical costs of the donor evaluation and the donor surgery.