Transplantation Proceedings
Volume 35, Issue 1 , Pages 24-25, February 2003

Altruism and living-related renal transplantation in India

  • K Mahawar

      Affiliations

    • Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
    • ,
  • A Sharma

      Affiliations

    • Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
    • ,
  • R Angral

      Affiliations

    • Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
    • ,
  • M Minz

      Affiliations

    • Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests to Prof Mukut Minz, House No 63, Sector 24-A, Transplant Unit, Department of Surgery, Pgimer, Chandigarh, India.

Article Outline

 

Altruism has been said to be the motivating factor for living renal donation in many studies.1 It also has been reported, however, that gifted rewarding and exchange of money may occur even among living related renal donors.2 Therefore, we hypothesized that motives other than true love and altruism form the basis of such donations. We sought to prospectively analyze whether factors other than altruism influence renal donation in living-related renal transplantation (LRRTx).

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Methods 

Twenty-Five donors were interviewed prospectively after surgery. The donors were assured of confidentiality and administered a standard questionnaire to gain an insight into the social and financial perspectives of living related renal donation in the Indian context. We graded the reason for organ donation as stated by the donor according to a Donor Altruism Score made by us.

Out of coercion Grade I

None other’s blood group matched/None other willing to donate Grade II

Not particularly out of love but feels that others are more important Grade III

Out of love and affection Grade IV

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Results 

Thirteen (52%) of the donors were women with a mean donor age of 41.32 ± 14.5 years. The total number of related donors who had no medical contraindication to donation was 92. Of these, 54 members were financially independent and 38 members were financially dependent. In contrast, among the 25 donors, 16 (64%) were financially dependent and 9 (36%) were financially independent (Fig. 1). The average donor altruism score was 3.6.

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Discussion 

Altruism and a sense of moral obligation have been reported to be the prime motivating influences in living related kidney donation.1 In our study, 18 (72%) donors stated that they had donated their kidney purely out of love and affection. When analyzed for financial status, however, we found that 64% of donors were financially dependent as compared with 41.3% of the total members who were fit for donation. (P value < .05). This suggests that financial dependency also has a strong influence regarding the choice of the donor in the family and also that money exchange, which is known to occur among living unrelated donors,2, 3 may take place in LRRTx.

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Conclusions 

Although most donors of live related kidney transplants cite love and affection as the prime motive, other factors may play a significant role in LRRTx.

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References 

  1. Eggeling C. EDTNA ERCA J. 1999;25:19
  2. Khajehdehi P. Nephrol Dial Transplant. 1999;14:2621
  3. MacKenzic D. New Sci. 1985;105:7

PII: S0041-1345(02)03773-9

doi:10.1016/S0041-1345(02)03773-9

Transplantation Proceedings
Volume 35, Issue 1 , Pages 24-25, February 2003

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