Altruism

[bcholmes]

Man altruistically donates part of his liver to a complete stranger. He was asked to see three psychiatrists to find out what his real motivation was.

Comments

[mathbabe.livejournal.com]

I am supposed to undergo psychiatric testing as part of egg donation, too, even though it's a trivial procedure compared to donating part of a liver. As I understand it, part of it is trying to make sure nobody is being coerced. And I can certainly understand how someone might be tempted to use a spectacular donation like this as a "get out of jail free" card to ease their conscience for something terrible they did in the past.

All that said, isn't it kind of sad that "our" (society's? the medical profession's?) first reaction to someone wanting to donate is that they must be crazy?