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Peer-reviewed article

Why Not Me?

This chapter discusses a system for screening living donors. The chapter begins with a narrative of the author as she was anxiously waiting to hear whether the Transplant Selection Committee at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was…

By John D. LantosJanuary 1, 20211 min readin Cornell University Press eBooks

This chapter discusses a system for screening living donors. The chapter begins with a narrative of the author as she was anxiously waiting to hear whether the Transplant Selection Committee at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was going to approve her as a kidney donor. It then recounts the author's decision to donate one of her kidneys to a stranger. A few months earlier, she had read an article in the <italic>Kansas City Jewish Chronicle</italic> about a woman who needed a kidney. The article detailed how Deb Porter Gill had been diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes and developed unrelated chronic kidney disease. The chapter narrates the reasons why Deb's story tugged at the author. Ultimately, the chapter looks at the importance of the whole series of evaluation and screening in kidney transplantation.

Originally published at Cornell University Press eBooks · January 1, 2021.

About the author

John D. Lantos is a pediatrician and bioethicist writing on AI in medicine, neonatal intensive care, and end-of-life decisions. His essays appear in JAMA, JAMA Pediatrics, the Hastings Center Report, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Aeon. Read more about John.

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