Kidney patient receives gift of life from anonymous organ donor at Banner Good Samaritan

PHOENIX (Oct. 28, 2004) – Early Wednesday morning, surgeons at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center performed the hospital's first nondirected live donor kidney transplant. The organ donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, offered a kidney to a patient on the hospital's transplant waiting list.

With most live donor kidney transplants, the donor and recipient are known to each other – either family members or friends. In a nondirected kidney transplant, the donor and recipient are unknown to each other and quite possibly will never meet. Following the procedure, both parties were placed in different areas of the hospital and have two separate nursing groups to minimalize potential contact.

"Thousands of Americans are in need of an organ transplant in order to improve their lives," said Madelyn Ruocco, a clinical transplant coordinator at Banner Good Samaritan, Arizona's leading organ transplant and surgical center. "Although many transplant hopefuls must wait for another person to pass away in order to possibly obtain an organ, patients waiting for kidneys have been able to receive the organ from living donors since the 1960s."

"Still, there is a continuous need for more kidney donors. Kidney transplants from anonymous donors offer a new source of needed organs for many patients who are desperately in need of a kidney," Ruocco added.

Anonymous or "nondirected" donor transplants have occurred in Minnesota and other states since 1999. Arizona's four transplant facilities recently adopted policies that would protect the anonymity of both parties, including designating the gender, age, religion or race of either person. Banner Good Samaritan also requires that the donor is not motivated by financial consideration, nor expects to receive special consideration from the hospital or the recipient's family after the transplant.

A New England Journal of Medicine (August 2000) article about nondirected organ donation stated that nearly 3,000 Americans who are registered for a kidney transplant die waiting for a transplant annually, and perhaps 100,000 other kidney patients die before their names are placed on a waiting list.

Banner Good Samaritan has received several inquiries about nondirected organ donation since the option became available in Arizona and some potential donors are already conducting a pre-surgical evaluation.

"Although we are prohibited from saying much about the case, we can say that the donor researched available options during the past few years and made a choice to donate a kidney to an unknown person at Banner Good Samaritan based on that research," Ruocco said. "We are very grateful to the donor and would encourage other people interested in organ donation to contact Banner Good Samaritan or any of the hospitals performing transplant surgeries in the state."

Located in downtown Phoenix, Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center professionals have provided excellent medical care since 1911. In 1969, Banner Good Samaritan surgeons performed Arizona's first organ transplant, a kidney transplant. Having now performed more than 2,000 kidney transplants, Banner Good Samaritan is the largest provider of kidney transplants in Arizona and in the top 30 of 250 programs nationwide.