Donor denied due to drug use 8 years ago

[Jie]

After 2.5 months of evaluation, my potential donor passed all tests. However, my center made the final decision to deny my donor. The primary reason is the recreational drug use 8 years ago. Some doctor thinks a donor can get depression easily after donation, and with depression, the donor would take up recreational drug again. I am not sure this logic make sense or not.

Do anyone have information about how different centers deal with the past recreational drug use of potential donors? I am thinking to try with different centers, but not sure the effort is worth or not.   

[Rerun]

That is such BS!  There must be some other reason or they want to see how bad the donor wants to donate.  If he goes in the office kicking and screaming then maybe they will think he is serious.

They want you to be honest and then deny you for it.  I'm so sorry.  I'd appeal the decision. 

[paul.karen]

Shame...

Look at the other option and lets say this will make him feel whole for his past drug use.  A confirmation that his new road is a healthy good road in life.

Some people like to play god and think they know what is right or wrong. (the doctor)
Being denied may well drive a person back to doing drugs cause they see themselves as useless??
There are two sides to every coin.

Im sorry you and your friend are going through this.

[Des]

just a thought..... maybe the donor opted out and that is the lame excuse the centre used to tell you....... I know that when someone decides to Not go through with it, the coordinator will "make-up" something not to cause bad vibes between you two. 

I hope I am compeltely wrong!

I have a live donor busy with her workup and I will not fight anything that comes along. As I said ... I want her to feel that she can change her mind at any time. And just now I make a fuss and then it was just her running scared or something... I would rather not want to know. 

[willowtreewren]

We had a situation with a live donor's being denied because of an issue 20 years ago. It wasn't recreational drugs. But this was one of those issues of being honest and then being punished for it. She tried fighting, but it would take lawyers and $$$. She is still working on it, but it will be a long road. We are fine with the fact that she was denied. As everyone says, we don't want ANY donor to feel pressured.

Aleta

[cariad]

I would try with another center if you discuss it with the donor and this person wants to try. Everyone made great points. I think it could be the center overexercising their power, or it could be the donor wanted to back out and blame it on the center. I think you could get a good feel for the donor's attitude toward donation if you discuss visiting another center with the person and your potential donor seems uncertain about the idea.

Many centers will not allow those with any history of mental illness to donate. Addiction is considered a mental illness in this country (are you in the US?) The whole idea that once an addict, always an addict. I think Paul makes a good point, that it could be a positive motivator for a donor.

I would always advise only giving the minimum information to these hospitals, and be really careful about which records you release to them. If the only way you can donate or receive an organ is to lie, I say lie. Anyone who had met me as a kid would have bet the lot that I would be dead by now. These are medical people with a few fallible statistics, not oracles.

Good luck!

[Jie]

It is not the donor problem. The donor is very determined and is surprised too. This is not a honest issue either. The center knows the problem from the beginning. Apparently, the doctor who did the initial review thought it was ok, so they had the donor to go through all tests. It is some doctor in the medical board to disapprove it.

Besides the past drug use, the medical board cited another risk that the donor has used pain medicines for about 8 years.  But the donor has stopped using the pain medicine right before the evaluation, and this should not be an issue. 

   

[Rerun]

Who says death panels are gone!  I think they are alive and well.

               

[okarol]

My husband was told he could not donate to our daughter because he has a chronic pain issue with his back. Even though he wasn't taking meds at the time, they said the possibility exists that he may require NSAIDS in the future, which would put the remaining kidney at risk.

The objective is to accept a very healthy person as a donor, and to keep them healthy for the rest of their life. If there may be a problem, the team will decline that potential donor.