Many patients die as they wait for organs that never come -- either because no match is found for them, or because that match went to someone else higher up on the waiting list.
However a relatively new Internet trend is making it easier for altruistic strangers to donate their organs online.
Dozens of websites like livingdonorsonline.org and kidneymitsvah.com have sprung up to encourage people to legally donate one of their kidneys, part of their livers, bone marrow or other tissues -- while still alive.
In the United States, 19 people die each day while waiting for an organ or tissue transplant, according to the International Association for Organ Donation.
And in the United Kingdom, where approximately 10,000 people are currently in need of a new organ or tissue transplant, there are fewer than 30 deceased donors per million population.
In Austria, for example, that number drops to 12 deceased donors per million people.
Chaya Lipschutz created kidneymitsvah.com in the United States after she donated a kidney to a stranger in 2005. Since then, her brother has also donated one of his kidneys to someone on Chaya’s list.
“In Judaism, it is said that if you save one life it is as if you’ve saved the whole world,” Chaya told CNN.
Since starting her project, Chaya says she has arranged between five and ten matches.
“One of the matches I made is a result of the kidney donor seeing a flier I had [left] at a fish store,” she smiled. Donating organs for profitable gain is illegal in most countries, but a black market in some places like India and Iraq, where the poorest often have their organs removed in dangerously inappropriate facilities, has been hard to combat.
“I don’t get paid for doing this and don't charge a fee. Just like my kidney donation was altruistic, so is my kidney matchmaking,” said Chaya.
The Flood Sisters Kidney Foundation of America (floodsisters.org) also brings potential living kidney donors together with people who need them. The foundation was created after three sisters found a donor for their ailing father by posting an ad on popular online classified site Craigslist. The Floods received more than 100 responses to the Craigslist ad. Many sounded genuinely interested in helping, but others sought to sell a kidney.
One expert told CNN that Internet appeals for organ donations raise a number of questions of fairness.
“Ideally, organs should be fairly allocated on basis of medical need and time on the waiting list," said Dr. Kenneth Prager, director of clinical ethics and chairman of the Medical Ethics Committee at New York Presbyterian Hospital. "Solicitations undermine the concept of a level playing field.”
But, he added, “we are a country with free speech. There is nothing illegal in advertising or in using the Web for personal or health reasons. Altruistic organ donors have the legal right to designate recipients.” A spokesman for the National Kidney Foundation also expressed caution about donating organs online.
“Its hard to know someone's expectations and motivations through the internet and a person can be at risk for having their hopes dashed or being misled. This can be devastating to a person who is fighting for their life,” he said. Chaya agrees that the best way to donate a kidney is to give it to the person most in need.
“I admire people who give their kidney to the first person on the list. But some people are more particular. They want to give it someone under 40, or someone with a family.” “But,” she added that it was “better to donate a kidney to someone than to no one.”
Facts: In the UK, 1,023 people donated a kidney in 2008, according to the country’s National Health Service, but only 15 of those were altruistic donations, meaning they were given to strangers, rather than relatives or friends.
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