Thousands of Americans are waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant, and doctors say living donors play a critical role in helping close that gap.
Dr. Donald Morris with Intermountain Health says the need remains significant nationwide.
“Approximately 90,000 of those are waiting for a kidney transplant. So living kidney donation is a way that we're able to close some of that gap between the need and the availability of organs,” Morris said.
Each day, people die while waiting.
Dr. Morris says somewhere between 11 and 20 men and women die each day in the United States while waiting for a kidney transplant. That adds up to roughly 6,000 people each year.
At Intermountain Health, Morris and his team are working to improve those outcomes. Last year, the health system performed more than 500 transplants, setting a new benchmark in Utah.
Those procedures are only possible because of donors and their families.
“Without those people, none of this happens,” Morris said.
Intermountain Health is also nationally recognized for its transplant program.
“We're the only institution that has both kidney and liver transplant program. Ranked in the top five nationally for both speed to transplant and outcomes after one year after transplant,” Morris said.
Before a transplant can take place, both donors and recipients must go through extensive medical evaluations.
Dr. Morris says the screening process for living donors can be especially thorough.
“In some ways it's even more important for a living donor because that person is stepping forward,” Morris said. “They're gonna undergo surgery that is an elective surgery, which they would not otherwise have undertaken. We're evaluating that individual completely independent of the recipient.”
Sometimes, that evaluation leads doctors to decline a potential donor.
“Oh, yes. Yes,” Morris said when asked if people are ever turned away. “We've made many people unhappy because we will turn them away if we feel that the risk is too high.”
He says the process is intentionally rigorous to protect donors.
“As one of our coordinators says they're gonna get the astronaut physical. We're gonna, if not leave a stone unturned.”
Even the lighthearted moments during the conversation highlighted how seriously the team takes donor health.
“We're trying to set that up,” Morris joked after being asked if donors might get the same centrifuge test astronauts use during training.
Doctors say while the process can be demanding, living donors remain one of the most powerful ways to help people waiting for a kidney transplant.
