Finding an organ donor on line remains controversial

   Julie Wolf, the 62-year-old director of a charity in Olean, needed a new kidney.

   Linda Padilla, the 61-year-old postmaster of Ellicottville, wanted to donate a kidney.

   The two met on the Internet on a web site that pairs strangers with patients who need
organs.

   They ended up best friends, as well as neighbors, after completing a successful transplant
in Buffalo.

   "I've been given a new life. It's awesome," said Wolf, who has been on dialysis for four
years.

   Their meeting marks the first successful match at www.wnykidneyconnection.org, which may be the first regional website of its kind in the nation.

   But the practice of soliciting living donors over the Internet remains controversial.

    … Henry L. Davis

Comments

[Observer]

So what? Controversial to whom? Do you then think we should stop blood donations too? As they used to say, people should mind their own beeswax.

[Dave Undis]

The generosity of live organ donors like Linda Padilla is wonderful. It's a shame we need so many live organ donors. Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs every year.

There is another good way to put a big dent in the organ shortage -- if you don't agree to donate your organs when you die, then you go to the back of the waiting list if you ever need an organ to live.

Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. About 50% of the organs transplanted in the United States go to people who haven't agreed to donate their own organs when they die.

Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.