{"id":12204,"date":"2011-11-01T17:07:24","date_gmt":"2011-11-01T16:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=12204"},"modified":"2011-11-14T13:13:33","modified_gmt":"2011-11-14T12:13:33","slug":"nigel-hawkes-give-a-kidney-%e2%80%93-ones-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stg-blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2011\/11\/01\/nigel-hawkes-give-a-kidney-%e2%80%93-ones-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Nigel Hawkes: Give a Kidney \u2013 One’s Enough"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"NigelThe late Sir Jimmy Saville devoted much of his life to public service, raising \u00a340 million for various good causes including hospitals, and even working shifts as a hospital porter. Yet to read his obituaries this week has been to witness a struggle, not always availing, against disbelief.
\nCould any man be that altruistic without also being slightly unhinged? That\u2019s the unspoken message. The psychiatrist Anthony Clare concluded after interviewing Sir Jimmy on Radio 4\u2019s In the Psychiatrist\u2019s Chair<\/em> that the DJ was \u201cat odds with himself.\u201d True or not, he was certainly at odds with a cynical media.<\/p>\n

I thought of Sir Jimmy at this morning\u2019s press conference to launch a new charity devoted to altruistic kidney donation. The brainchild of Annabel Ferriman, the BMJ<\/em>\u2019s News Editor, Give a Kidney \u2013 One\u2019s Enough aims to provide information and support to would-be altruistic donors. A number of people who had already given a kidney were there, looking anything but at odds with themselves. Unlike Sir Jimmy, who favoured shiny tracksuits and chunky jewellery and wore his hair long and platinum blonde, they appeared quite normal.<\/p>\n

A study presented last week at the Canadian Psychiatric Association\u2019s annual meeting found that, mostly, this is true. The numbers were tiny, just 10 would be donors, but the results tie in with another recent study (Transplantation<\/em>, 2011;91:772-778). Six out of the ten were adjudged to be acting out of altruism rather than psychopathology.<\/p>\n

Hmm, but what about the other four? (See, I can\u2019t keep suspicion under control even when I\u2019m trying.) Well, one suffered from antisocial personality disorder, one from a major depression and avoidant personality disorder; a third had a cognitive disorder, unspecified; and the fourth was found to have incomplete individuation. I think that may be Latin for being at odds with oneself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These four were rejected, and quite right too. One can\u2019t have people with psychological disturbances giving kidneys as a way of working free of their demons. Yet think how many saints the Catholic Church would have missed out on if it had enforced a psychiatric test. Joan of Arc, who heard voices, would have been diagnosed schizophrenic. St Francis of Assisi\u2019s love of animals was borderline obsessive-compulsive. St Paul had a very odd attitude to sex, and even Jesus said: \u201cLet the little children come unto me.\u201d Stop, stop! The church is in enough trouble already.<\/p>\n

The origins of altruism have long puzzled the evolutionary psychologists, who can\u2019t see any genetic imperative for helping those who are not kin. But it exists, and was made manifest at today\u2019s launch. The charity\u2019s poll shows as many as\u00a0eight per cent of people might be willing to donate one of their kidneys to a complete stranger. If even a fraction of them did, waiting lists for kidney transplants could be eliminated.<\/p>\n

So good luck to the new charity, and may it not probe too deep into human motivation. Altruism is a bit of a mystery, its origins sometimes lying in individual unhappiness. But exercising it benefits both those who give, and those who receive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The late Sir Jimmy Saville devoted much of his life to public service, raising \u00a340 million for various good causes including hospitals, and even working shifts as a hospital porter. Yet to read his obituaries this week has been to witness a struggle, not always availing, against disbelief. […]<\/p>\n

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