Philanthropically Funded Heroism Awards for Kidney Donors?

There are about 100,000 people on the waiting list for a deceased donor– kidney transplant in the United States, a number that grows from year to year despite advances that have increased the availability of kidney transplantation. About 36,000 patients joined the waiting list in 2013, though only about 11,000 deceased donor transplants were performed, along with about 6000 transplants from living donors. There are now more living kidney donors than deceased donors in the United States, even though there are more transplants from deceased donors, who donate two kidneys. Although kidneys from deceased donors are allocated by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) to patients on the waiting list according to strict rules, living donors typically give a kidney to a relative or loved one in need. In this article we explore possible ways to increase the number of living donors. There have already been efforts to increase the number of living donors. Kidney exchange allows potential living donors who are incompatible with their intended recipients to nevertheless donate kidneys to other, compatible recipients in a way that ensures that their intended recipients receive compatible kidneys. This is done by an exchange between two or more incompatible patient–donor pairs such that each donor gives a compatible