Recipient of live liver donation going home from hospital

[WendyWeber]

I hadn't heard about this before

The son donated 60% of his healthy liver to the father and they are both fine - the op only took place on June 21st.

Fantastic!

Because of pressure on the donor to agree, fio?

I didn't know live lung donation was possible

I have heard of this (and I do agree the pressure could be terrible) but if it was your child needing the transplant (rather than sibling) wouldn't you do it like a shot?

And then, also, what if the formerly healthy donor then goes on to develop the same disease him/herself?

I'd do it for my child, but there is NO way I would allow my daughters to do it for me.

None. Zero.

God Fio that must have been a hideous position to be put in. (I would have refused too )

interesting link Fio - I see what you mean now by two live donors.

I would do it for my child but agree that I wouldn;t do it for anyone else, I would have to think long and hard about my mum but I suspect she wouldn't let me.

Hm - lungs don't regenerate like the liver, do they? A much bigger commitment. It says "A donor with four lung lobes instead of five lung lobes will have less exercise tolerance for competitive sports" which wouldn't affect the majority of people but it does make you wonder what the long-term effects might be.

Yes, KewC - like a shot. And, like this case, the other way round for many people. The sibling thing is trickier of course; there was a family in the papers recently where one sibling had refused to donate something (kidney maybe?) to another - I think they were estranged anyway but there were some nasty comments.

Yes, this is a very serious operation for BOTH parties. And no one knows long-term what the effects are.

Also, if the person who needs the transplant became ill through a genetic disease, what's to say the donor will not also develop this disease and then need a transplant of the organ he/she donated.

There's NO way I could allow my child to take such a risk for me, not to mention the pain.

Sounds like you're better off without him in your life, Fio.

What did he expect you to do with the grandchild of his you were carrying? Did he find her dispensible?

She had one lung transplant though, fio? Was the live donation suggestion after that?

Your dad is really not a nice guy, is he?

Oh please don't feel bad, it's so relevant and really interesting.

I'm sorry if it makes you sad though your sister sounds so lovely

It's an important issue though Fio. Just because things are clinically possible doesn't mean that we're able to cope with the ethical and emotional fallout.

The pressure on the proposed donor and the person needing the donation, and the rest of the family must be appalling. There's the whole related issue of child donors and whether there can ever really be such a thing as informed consent there.... so hard.

You would agree if you were on deaths door and wanted to live