[RD] Why do you still have two kidneys?

[Mouthwash]

My understanding is that, apart from some slight long-term risks, there isn't much downside to having one kidney - but people regularly die for lack of one. Now don't get me wrong, I'm very hostile towards 'effective altruism' or utilitarian-style thinking, but I can't see any serious reason not donate (aside from the fact that I'm at high risk for polycystic kidney disease). On one side, temporary inconvenience, and on the other, extreme suffering or death.

Is there a good reason not to?

 

[jarred!]

I don't trust other people enough to do that. All I think is: what if my single kidney is damaged somehow down the road and then I'll have to wait for a donor, and I don't want that to transpire.
I also don't think it's appropriate to start cutting things off and out of my body just because it's possible. I am an organ donor though.

 

[rah]

The same reason you back up your data. Except in this case where if you lose the one, you're just not inconvenienced, you die.

 

[jarred!]

You get to go to the hospital once a week to have a machine pee for you!

 

[Akka]

Is there a good reason not to?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redundancy_(engineering)

 

[Mouthwash]

I don't trust other people enough to do that. All I think is: what if my single kidney is damaged somehow down the road and then I'll have to wait for a donor, and I don't want that to transpire.
I also don't think it's appropriate to start cutting things off and out of my body just because it's possible. I am an organ donor though.

Some countries give you priority on the transplant list if you've donated.

The same reason you back up your data. Except in this case where if you lose the one, you're just not inconvenienced, you die.

The odds are low that having a single kidney rather than two will be the deciding factor of whether you die or spend the rest of your life in dialysis. On the other hand, someone very probably is going to meet that fate if you choose not to give one up.

 

[El_Machinae]

Other life circumstances came up, but I 100% promise that I was going to be a Kidney donor. My logic was, by the time I probably need my spare kidney, artificial transplants will be available

In the meantime, I earmarked some of my savings into a company that is working on artificial kidneys. The lack of kidneys is a huge and unnecessary cause of suffering and death

 

[rah]

Getting a transplant is not a sure thing yet. They don't always take and your body may reject it.

 

[bernie14]

Because I'm selfish

 

[emzie]

You don't just give up a kidney, you also give up some activities. I don't want to make the lifestyle changes required unless it's to save someone I care about.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

It's not like the demand for kidneys is calling for everyone to donate one. There are certainly not enough donors right now, but if we got enough donors to meet the needs there would still be a vast majority of the population running about with their installed spare still intact.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Hopefully lab-grown or artificial kidneys and other organs make the whole question a moot point.

 

[Narz]

I can't speak for everyone but for me, I guess its cause I haven't picked up the wrong girl in a foreign country and woken up with a scar in a bathtub of ice

 

[Mouthwash]

You don't just give up a kidney, you also give up some activities. I don't want to make the lifestyle changes required unless it's to save someone I care about.

I did not read about this. How does it affect you?

It's not like the demand for kidneys is calling for everyone to donate one. There are certainly not enough donors right now, but if we got enough donors to meet the needs there would still be a vast majority of the population running about with their installed spare still intact.

And that would be a great world to live in (which is why I think the law should be a lot more proactive in 'encouraging' donation). As things stand, however, most people can save a life at very little cost to themselves (even multiple lives, with transplant chains).

Hopefully lab-grown or artificial kidneys and other organs make the whole question a moot point.

Then you should donate before they do, because many people are dying right now whom that technology won't save.

 

[Synobun]

I don't donate blood and I'm not a donor mostly because I don't want to risk being a risk towards others. In theory, my organs and blood are okay today, but it's enough of a question mark for the future that I don't want to live up to one of those medical show episodes about donations gone wrong.

Instead, my untimely demise will further medical research.

 

[Timsup2nothin]

As things stand, however, most people can save a life at very little cost to themselves.

No, "most people" can't. Assuming the US is a representative sample, there are 114,000 people on the transplant wait list, and something like 80% of those are for kidneys. So in the ideal world where everyone signs up and gets tested and we find a donor for every single one of them that means that about 80,000 people can save a life. That is a far cry from "most people."

You are promoting a good cause, and I applaud you, but try to keep the hyperbole from running amok. It is counterproductive to the strength of your plea.

 

[Snerk]

It's a valid question and an interesting dilemma. For me it's pure selfishness, I've got enough health issues and taking unnecessary risks for more issues down the line is a no go for me.

Now if you want to get philosophical about it it's pretty hard to define "unnecessary risks" in life but you get the general idea.

Once I'm dead they can have whatever they want.

 

[Mouthwash]

No, "most people" can't. Assuming the US is a representative sample, there are 114,000 people on the transplant wait list, and something like 80% of those are for kidneys. So in the ideal world where everyone signs up and gets tested and we find a donor for every single one of them that means that about 80,000 people can save a life. That is a far cry from "most people."

I mean individually. Any person, all else staying the same, can at this moment save a life with donation.

 

[Azem.Ocram]

My medicine disqualifies me from organ donation and my lifestyle disqualifies me from blood donation.

 

[El_Machinae]

Hopefully lab-grown or artificial kidneys and other organs make the whole question a moot point.

This was why I was going to donate. It was going to be someone else who died before it became true, when that person need not die. In fact, with chained donation, a single Anonymous donor can easily save a half-dozen people

I wasn't able to donate, life circumstances. That's why I earmarked some of my savings in that direction, to at least bring forward the day when artificial kidneys became available