# Discussion thread for the "Polls only" thread (Part 3)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [January 29, 2026, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157 "2026-01-29T18:21:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 135
### Author:  [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2681 "2026-08-12T01:03:23Z")
> [@Mollie\_Magill](#):
>
> > [@Procrustus](#):
> >
> > This surgeon wanted the patient to know he was praying for some reason.
>
> Otherwise, how would you know he was holier than you?
If I’m undergoing surgery, he probably won’t be for long!
[Okay, that was a terrible joke, I am and should be ashamed for making it. Not that it stopped me!]
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2682 "2026-08-12T01:38:18Z")
“Should be” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2683 "2026-08-12T11:09:09Z")
I would have thought the kidney transplant doctor (who presumably is not praying over his/her patient) would not be allowed to reveal to others whether or not the cousin is a compatible donor without the cousin’s consent. Nor would the doctor be allowed to lie directly. At best s/he could say to the family “Of those willing to be a donor and tested, none were a match.”
But were I the doctor I would totally attempt to guilt the person (in private) into donating, given that the other person’s life was literally at stake.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2684 "2026-08-12T12:33:35Z")
I think the correct answer isn’t listed. Note that one of those options is a repetition of one of the others.
I don’t think the doctor’s allowed to tell anybody anyone else’s results without permission.
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### Author:  [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2685 "2026-08-12T13:42:26Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> I don’t think the doctor’s allowed to tell anybody anyone else’s results without permission.
This. Unless the cousin give explicit instructions, the Doctor cannot say anything about whether they’re a match.
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### Author:  [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2686 "2026-08-12T13:50:11Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#):
>
> I think the correct answer isn’t listed. Note that one of those options is a repetition of one of the others.
Since the correct answer is listed twice, the odds of picking it are 2 in 4 - 50%. Right!? Naw.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2687 "2026-08-12T13:54:54Z")
Agreed. So none of the options are relevant.
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2688 "2026-08-12T14:41:55Z")
1. The kidney process in the US doesn’t require a direct match. Someone can donate a kidney to the pool\* and their designee will receive a kidney when a match is available. For example, I donate a kidney on behalf of my uncle. We’re not a match, but my kidney goes to someone who is a match, snd my uncle receives one that’s a match. Cite: my family’s experience.
2. The situation described won’t happen due to HIPAA. Someone who doesn’t want to donate doesn’t even get tested, and no medical person can discloae that, ot if for dome readon they were tested, the result could not be revealed.
\*(NB: no relation to a kidney-shaped pool)
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2689 "2026-08-12T15:05:59Z")
> [@susan](#):
>
> 1. The kidney process in the US doesn’t require a direct match. Someone can donate a kidney to the pool\* and their designee will receive a kidney when a match is available.
The UK doesn’t have a kidney pool but it does have a Liverpool _heyoooooooo_
> [@susan](#):
>
> 1. Someone who doesn’t want to donate doesn’t even get tested, and no medical person can discloae that, ot if for dome readon they were tested, the result could not be revealed.
In the hypothetical, they may have gotten tested hoping not to be a match just for the sake of appearances.
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### Author:  [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2690 "2026-08-12T15:18:56Z")
Maybe the doctor has a heart, and wants to make the matching guy find his. So a little pressure on the putative donor or a knowledgeable wink with the family could spur some compassion, and HIPAA be damned.
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### Author:  [@Thumper668](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thumper668)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2691 "2026-08-12T15:30:04Z")
No (American) physician who intends to keep his license would ever do this.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2692 "2026-08-12T15:33:28Z")
Yeah, a “knowledgeable wink to the family” would be very illegal, and i hope no doctor would do that.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2693 "2026-08-12T15:41:10Z")
> [@susan](#):
>
> 1. The kidney process in the US doesn’t require a direct match. Someone can donate a kidney to the pool\* and their designee will receive a kidney when a match is available. For example, I donate a kidney on behalf of my uncle. We’re not a match, but my kidney goes to someone who is a match, snd my uncle receives one that’s a match. Cite: my family’s experience.
In my US experience, a direct match often is found among family and friends. My BIL donated a kidney to his foster sister. (No genetic connection, but they happened to match.) My son and most of his friends got tested for a friend who needed a kidney. One of the friend matched, but before the surgery happened, a suitable cadaver kidney was identified. The matching friend patted his side and said, “I’m keeping one warm for you in case you need it.” He didn’t donate it to an unknown person.
I know a couple of people who have moved to a different state to improve their odds of getting a transplanted organ. (A co-worker and my dentist, who stopped being my dentist after suddenly moving to Florida.) I gather the rules on eligibility and priority vary a lot from state to state.
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### Author:  [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2694 "2026-08-12T16:17:45Z")
> [@markn\_1](#):
>
> This conversation seems so weird to me. It seems like there’s some hidden reason people have for denying the historical fact that “think” was the origin of the phrase, but I don’t know what it is.
>
> “The original phrase used ‘thing’.”
> “No it didn’t; here’s proof.”
> “Well, ‘think’ isn’t a noun.”
> “Yes it is; here’s proof.”
> “Well, ‘think’ is an archaic noun.”
> “No it isn’t; here’s proof.”
> “Well, nowadays ‘think’ is only used as a noun in this one idiom.”
> “But this whole discussion is about its use in another idiom.”
>
> It feels like a conversation from Alice in Wonderland.
This is exactly how it felt to me. I’ve always said “think.”
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2695 "2026-08-12T16:23:07Z")
In the office i worked at, the earliest polite time was 11:15, after most of the West Coast people had arrived and gotten settled. But i doubt that’s typical.
In practice, i try to look for times the attendees will be there, and avoid scheduling anything immediately after anyone plans to arrive.
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### Author:  [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2696 "2026-08-12T16:26:57Z")
The surgeon praying – I would hope he’d pray, actually, but not out loud.
I pray, but even if the surgeon were of my exact tradition and practice, and said an exact prayer exactly as I would say it, it would be deeply weird unless we’d talked about it beforehand. The problem is not the prayer; it’s the unexpected, unsurgeonly behavior, so inappropriate in context that I’d think “there’s something off about this person” and be quite worried. I might even get up off the table.
I mean, who does this? At best, it’s ostentatious and essentially un-Christian (praying on the street-corner with the hypocrites) and at worst it indicates a lack of situational awareness and a certain blustery arrogance that’s not OK for someone with a knife in their hand. Normal surgeons do not pray out loud in front of their patients prior to surgery, the end.
If they’re the kind of oogy Evangelical who insists anyway, then I figure they’re probably also the kind that’s a bit careless in general, because God will take care of it. No thanks.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2697 "2026-08-12T16:30:55Z")
I assumed local, since we were worldwide and met at all sorts of hours that wouldn’t make sense. And I said 9, because 8 is mean.
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### Author:  [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2698 "2026-08-12T16:32:55Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#):
>
> The problem is not the prayer; it’s the unexpected, unsurgeonly behavior, so inappropriate in context that I’d think “there’s something off about this person” and be quite worried.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. If i learned randomly that my surgeon was the kind of Christian who believed in that type of prayer, and that he prayed quietly, and privately, before every operation, it wouldn’t bother me. People do stuff like that. But to pray in front of the patient, especially some prayer that might be controversial… That’s really weird. And i don’t want my surgeon to be weird.
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### Author:  [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2699 "2026-08-12T16:34:53Z")
Welp, “thing” was leading in the early returns, while “think” eked out a slim edge around the 55 vote mark, but the late ballots got “thing” back into the lead.
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### Author:  [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)
#### Post date: [August 12, 2026, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/discussion-thread-for-the-polls-only-thread-part-3/1027157/2700 "2026-08-12T16:59:38Z")
I think it’s going to depend on the office.
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