I’ve had an organ donor card in my wallet for as long as I can remember and I’ve always made it very clear to my loved ones that I want all my organs to be used when I die.
My question is, given that I only need one kidney, would it be better if I were to donate the other one right away rather than after my inevitable demise?
Obviously, my organs won’t be used in the unlikely event that I die in some unrecoverable way, like being lost at sea or something. And there’s always the possibility that a close relative might need a kidney at some point, so I should arguably save it for them.
Is there some other reason to do it now?
To be clear, kidneys need steady and high blood pressure to continue functioning. So let’s say you have a heart attack, then your able to recover circulation but your brain was hypoxic and you’re later shown to be brain dead. In that case you’re also incredibly likely to be in some state of kidney failure and needing dialysis.