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VANCOUVER — A couple of British Columbians desperate to find kidney donors for their husbands are among a growing number of people looking online for organs.
Jewel Calibaba, of Kamloops, B.C., started a group several months ago on the popular social networking site Facebook in an effort to find a kidney for her husband, Dale.
And Lois Wilson, of Abbotsford, B.C., put an ad on the online classified site Craigslist, looking for another couple to essentially trade an organ: She would donate a kidney to one of the other couple, if one of them donated a kidney that is a match to Ms. Wilson's ailing husband, Dave.
The swap method is known as the “live donor paired kidney exchange program” and has been used in British Columbia for two years. It's also used in Ontario.
“One (appeal) is asking for a kidney to be donated altruistically,” or for no other reason than concern for the person, said Ken Donohue of the B.C. Transplant Society.
“The other (appeal) is by being willing to give back by donating to somebody else.”
But both Mr. Donohue and a prominent medical ethicist said finding a donor is not as simple as posting an appeal online.
An anonymous donation is when a person comes forward and offers to donate to a stranger.
“But that kidney goes to a person next on the waiting list, as opposed to being directed to somebody,” he said.
Neither Mr. Donohue nor medical ethicist Margaret Somerville, of McGill University, have a problem with the swap being proposed by the Wilsons. The method being taken by the Calibabas, however, poses more of a problem.
In Canada, a living donor and the recipient must have a relationship, but there is no way for medical officials to know when a relationship formed, or how.
“From an ethical point of view, I think a lot of clinicians would have some issues with somebody making an appeal for a kidney in the sense that, why is the person donating? Are they really altruistic? Is there something untoward? Is there money changing hands?” Mr. Donohue said.
He said that unless the Calibabas's main priority is to increase awareness for the need for organ donors, they are not using the best route.
“If you come forward with a living donor, a friend, co-worker or family member . . . doctors can start assessment process right away,” he said. “You need a pre-existing relationship. If it's a stranger, then the red flags go up.”
But despite the rule for living donors, the fact is that should the Facebook effort undercover a person who then becomes a friend, there is no way for officials to know the depth of the friendship.
Ms. Somerville, founding director of the McGill Centre for Medicine, Ethics and Law , said initiatives such as Craigslist or Facebook are on the increase.
One big issue is whether it's possible to have a stranger make an altruistic organ donation, she said.
The paired exchange method like the one proposed by the Wilsons is acceptable, said Ms. Somerville, “but it's got to be carefully safeguarded — no sale, no coercion.”
She said there is a debate about whether any donations should be allowed when the parties are not related and the only seeming motivation is altruism.
“And there is a big problem of, ‘Is there a deal going on under the table?” Ms. Somerville said.
Yet Mr. Donohue expects that the live donor paired exchange program will be used in every province and territory before too long.
In Kamloops, Dale Calibaba, said he is still hopeful that the Facebook method will bring a good result.
The waiting list for a cadaver donor is eight to nine years and the page gives him hope.
“I don't have any relatives (to donate) that qualify so my wife started the group to give me a little bit of hope. I keep reading these words of encouragement on there just to uplift me,” Mr. Calibaba told The Canadian Press.
