Where is my kidney coming from?

September 11, 2008
Where is my kidney coming from?

By Anna Bennett

Bill's post The price of high gas prices got me thinking about my upcoming transplant, after all, I've been on the UNOS list since June 2005, I've already gotten one phone call, surely I'll get "The" phone call soon. Well, according to recent data - maybe not.

Is it a coincidence that gas prices were expected to peak in June 2008, and deceased donors plummeted. I just spoke with my Transplant Coordinator, and she said "it is a slow time for kidneys".

In August, the first kidney that was offered to me was from a 54 year old stroke victim, although I did not receive that kidney, I did get me an idea of what to expect the next time a match comes along. I wonder, with the rising price of gas, will it be from a person who has died in an auto accident? Has the current economic climate caused a scarcity of organs?

UNOS keeps track of transplants UNOS publishes their data, and you can request more in depth data as needed - while I am not able to dig deep enough to find out if auto accidents caused the deaths of the deceased donors (the yearly data provided does not list auto accident in the detailed breakdown), we can look at the overall monthly numbers (I was only able to get the numbers through June 2008):

Number of Deceased Donors in the U.S. by Month*

2007 2008 Change
Jan 648 635 - 13
Feb 618 684 ** + 66
March 676 655 - 21
April 705 692 - 13
May 702 712 +10
June 687 646 - 41

For reference, the US DOE keeps a Weekly Retail Premium Gasoline Prices (Including Taxes) which reflects that the price for one gallon of gas the week of June 30th was $4.33.

An ethical question is: Will this decline in availability add fuel to the fire for the legal marketing of organs? Is the need so great that it would further push this agenda? Already we have desperate people flying overseas to purchase kidneys, what is this economic climate creating?

Bill wrote What can kidney dialysis teach us about kidney transplantation? comparing early dialysis "God Committees" to today's overwhelming need for kidneys.

Peter addresses organ purchase/trafficking in a few posts. It is a highly controversial subject, and I believe a subject that will keep appearing in the headlines as long as the demand is so high.

* Based on OPTN data as of September 5, 2008, Data subject to change based on future data submission or correction

** February '08 is a leap year, and had 29 days v. 28 days in '07

For more info go to http://www.billpeckham.com/from_the_sharp_end_of_the/2008/09/where-is-my-kin.html