The frum media has had many heartwarming stories lately, about people donating kidneys to those in need, strangers to the donor. Poskim have ruled that it is permissible to do this.
What I wonder about is the comment, often made by those promoting kidney donations, that perhaps this is the reason why Hashem gave us an "extra" kidney, so we could donate it. This is predicated on the view that we don't need two kidneys and that we can function perfectly well with one.
This pronouncement does not sit well with me. Is this really the case, that for millenia, billions of people were given two kidneys by Hashem, so that in our generation, a few people can donate a kidney? It is reminiscent of the medical wisdom of yesteryear in which tonsils and the appendix were considered superfluous and were frequently surgically removed without a compelling reason to do so.
I'm sure it's true that as of now, with the medical knowledge we have today, it looks as though a person can manage just fine with one kidney, and since a person in dire need of a kidney is in a state of pikuach nefesh, poskim have ruled that a person can donate a kidney. However, to say that Hashem created us with an extra, unnecessary organ? I'm not convinced.
The second kidney exists because a person really might need a spare in case one is injured, infected or damaged in any way. I would not encourage anyone to donate a kidney unless they would have to donate to a relative but are not a match and people in that situation are paired with others in that situation because they would have given anyway. All surgical procedures involve risk.
ReplyDeleteSo you're saying that from the outset, Hashem gave us a backup kidney. Why not a backup heart or liver or stomach?
ReplyDeleteIt is possible that a kidney could be damaged by an injury or cancer, but in most cases, kidneys fail together. It makes no difference if you have one or if you have two. I now have one because I saved a man's life with the other with the help of Chaya Lipschutz at kidneymitzvah.com. I agree that Hashem did not give us an extra for this purpose but it surely makes him smile when we bless others by sharing our health with them.
ReplyDeleteSaving a life is always a mitzvah and donating a kidney is considered halachically permissible because the risk to the donor is small. It is probably comparable to jumping into a river to save a person from drowning. If a person can swim and swim well enough to fight a tide and save someone, they should jump in, even though it involves a small risk to themselves. Those who cannot swim, however, should try other means to save the drowning individual.
ReplyDeleteIt is one thing for those who are not afraid of surgery or worried about the loss of the kidney to venture forward and help someone else and another thing to try to pressure those who emotionally can't handle undergoing the procedure. Some of these kidney donor drives advertise that Hashem gave us two kidneys so that we can donate one, as is stated in the blog post. That might inspire someone to give but they should be aware that there is no proof that Hashem gave humans 2 kidneys for the purpose of someday giving one away. Of course, any supremely kind act that one person does for another is loved by Hashem.
While both kidneys usually fail together, sometimes there could be one that is still functioning better than the other or the marginal function in both is possibly still higher than marginal function in one would be. I would think though, that people who are likely candidates for eventual kidney failure would be disqualified as donors. Kidney failure could occur though, from poisoning or severe infection so that would be hard to predict.
At this point, it does not appear that removing one kidney affects the overall health or longevity of the donor. Occasionally stories surface of donors who now need to be recipients and apparently they are put on lists ahead of others for cadaver organs.
Most people probably don't consider undergoing surgery to remove a kidney until someone that they are close with needs it. It is the highest form of altruism to do it for a stranger. I would consider it almost as altruistic as being a surrogate mother for a stranger and carrying a fetus or twins for someone and facing the risks of a c-section.
Bone marrow donation is also not completely innocuous and plenty of people altruistically donate their bone marrow.
Personally I find surgery extremely frightening and am not a good candidate to begin with because of a missing clotting factor. Because of my heightened anxiety, I would also not encourage my children to undergo surgery that was not of benefit to their own health or someone close to them.