I remember reading somewhere that someone who needs a kidney transplant would rather live with an older one with lots of mileage than die with their younger malfunctioning one. This rings very true to me. After all, if the kidney still works, why should age of the donor be a factor? Plus, with the extreme organ donation shortage we experience across the world, we shooting ourselves in the foot by eliminating an entire group of potential donors, just because of their age.
When matching organs, particularly kidneys, there is a rule of thumb that doctors like to work with and that’s …read more

I’m a huge, huge (did I say HUGE) proponent for signing donor cards and making sure you know that your family and loved ones know your decision. There are so many people who need a transplant and so few donors available. It’s not because the organs aren’t available – sadly so many people die unexpected or accidental deaths that they are available – but so many also don’t sign their donor cards.

Some donations are done with live donations. Usually, it’s a family member who donates a kidney, or even a piece of the liver now. Once in a while, you …read more

Back in 2001, Dr. Richard Batista gave his wife, Dawnell, one of his kidneys. Mrs. Batista, had a history of kidney problems and the kidney donated by her husband, marked her third kidney transplant.
Now it’s 2009, his wife is suing him for divorce, and Batista wants his kidney back…..or the sum of $1.5 million. Mrs. Batista filed for divorce, back in 2005, 4 years after the kidney donation and transplant. Dr. Batista alleges that his wife had an affair – that’s the reasoning for his demand. He claims that the affair was conducted with Dawnell’s phyiscal therapist.  Mrs. Batista denies …read more