Web site links kidney patient, donor

By Jim Ritter Health Reporter

July 21, 2005

An unusual organ transplant is scheduled at Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Friday.

Canadian Trent Fenwick is donating a kidney to a west suburban man whom he met for the first time only last week.

They were introduced through a controversial Web site called MatchingDonors.com that matches transplant patients with living donors such as Fenwick.

Patients hoping to attract donors tell their personal stories on the Web site, for a fee. A 30-day posting costs $295; a six-month posting costs $582.

The site has helped arrange 11 transplants since October, and about 20 more transplants are scheduled.

'PLEASE, HELP ME' About 120 transplant patients have posted their stories on MatchingDonors.com in the hopes of attracting a living donor. A sampling: A Chicago woman on dialysis writes: "I am sick . . . I am just so tired. I would never have believed at 47 my life would be this sad." A kidney patient in New Orleans tells of her 11-year-old-son waking up at night, worried his mom will die. "Please, help me to fulfill my simple dream, a normal life," the woman writes. A 70-year-old grandfather of nine tells potential donors: "You will have a crown in heaven waiting for you."

Survey finds 1 in 4 would donate

Living donors who donate a kidney or portions of a liver or other organs usually recover completely, but there's a small risk of infection, bleeding and other complications. Donors are not paid because it's illegal to sell an organ. But donors do receive the "overwhelming satisfaction of giving life to another human being who would otherwise have a very poor quality of life or even die while waiting for a transplant," MatchingDonors said.

A National Kidney Foundation survey found that nearly 1 in 4 Americans would likely consider donating an organ to help save the life of a stranger. So it's perhaps not surprising that more than 2,200 people have registered with MatchingDonors as potential donors.

'Begging competition'

But the Web site troubles many doctors, ethicists and transplant organizations. Critics worry the site could subvert existing waiting lists, lead to under-the-table selling of organs and discriminate against patients who can't afford the fees or don't have compelling stories.

"Those who for whatever reason are not as 'attractive' as other potential recipients will not fare well in a begging competition," University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan wrote in the Hastings Center Report.

Nearly 90,000 people are on the national waiting list. On average, 18 patients die every day while waiting.

United Network for Organ Sharing, which administers the list, says MatchingDonors "subverts the equitable allocation of organs for transplantation."

The Kidney Foundation opposes the practice, saying such sites "may commercialize the donation process."

University of Chicago and Rush University Medical Center are among the hospitals that say they probably would not do a MatchingDonors transplant.

Northwestern OKs surgery

"Most of the people I've talked to have said this is not appropriate," said U. of C. transplant surgeon Dr. Richard Thistlethwaite.

But MatchingDonor co-founder Dr. Jeremiah Lowney said at least 20 hospitals are willing to do transplants. "We have changed a lot of hearts and minds," he said.

Friday's transplant will be the second Northwestern has done on a MatchingDonor couple. Two hospital ethics committees approved the transplant. Northwestern does not automatically rule out donors and recipients based solely on how they happened to meet, spokeswoman Kelly Sullivan said.

"We assess each individual situation on its own merits and make health-care decisions grounded in careful medical and psychosocial evaluations in order to care for these complex patients," Sullivan said.

Fenwick said he visited MatchingDonors.com after learning about the site in the Canadian media. He said he was moved by the profile of a west suburban man in his 40s who has two young children and failing kidneys.

The man, who asked not to be identified, said in his posting that family members wanted to donate, but didn't match.

"My children and my wife are my life, and now, all I want is to be there for my children as they grow up," he wrote.

Fenwick and the man met last week when Fenwick came to Northwestern for testing, and they took in a baseball game.

Fenwick, 37, lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, and works in financial services. He is separated from his wife and has two stepchildren. MatchingDonors, he said, "started out as a curiosity and developed into something much deeper."

Lowney said if a patient says he or she can't afford the fees, the posting is free. It's possible money could change hands. But that's a risk with any living donor transplant, Lowney said.

Hospitals routinely approve transplants from living donors who are, for example, friends, co-workers or fellow church members.

"No one does background checks on patients or donors," Lowney said.

He said MatchingDonors does not subvert the waiting list. Rather, the site is bringing new organs into the system that otherwise wouldn't be available, Lowney said.

Copyright © 2005 Digital Chicago, Inc.

This article posted August 7, 2005.