Starting the Donation Process
The donation process involves many phases including the screening process, the evaluation process and the team decision process. A team of health care professionals experienced in living donation are involved in all phases.
After expressing your interest in being a live donor, the decision to donate is entirely up to you. For this reason, you’ll be asked whether you give consent to donate several times throughout the process. This gives you multiple opportunities to make sure the decision is right for you.
The Initial Screening
The initial phase of the donor evaluation process consists of medical screening, but first, a member of the donor team will call you to review your medical history and put you in contact with our independent living donor advocate for additional support and protection of your rights as a potential living donor.
To donate at our program, you must be:
- Age 18 or older
- Have a healthy body weight
- Have no diabetes
- Have no uncontrolled high blood pressure
- Have no active infectious disease or cancer
- Show no evidence of coercion or payment
The Evaluation
Potential donors that pass the initial screening phase will meet with our donor team for a more comprehensive evaluation, which typically consists of the following:
- Donor education
- Blood and urine tests
- Imaging Studies
- An electrocardiogram
- A cardiac evaluation for donors older than age 50
- Cancer screening
- A psychosocial assessment
- A meeting with the members of our medical team
While these tests are in progress, the donor coordinator will communicate with you regularly, keeping you informed of your results and the next steps in the process.
Note: The recipient’s insurance company covers the expense of the donor evaluation, surgery, and post-surgical care.
After the Evaluation
When your evaluation is complete, the living donor coordinator will present your evaluation test results to a multidisciplinary committee to determine whether donation is safe for you. If you are approved by the team, the surgery will be scheduled on an elective basis. Consideration is given to the donor and recipient schedules.
To learn more about kidney donation or to speak with a member of the donor team, call (888) 705-9323 or email dmctransplantconsult@downstate.edu