# Recycled organs **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycled-organs/550544 "2010-08-17T17:30:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycled-organs/550544/1 "2010-08-17T17:30:16Z")
Say Bob, otherwise healthy guy, undergoes total renal failure. In the next room Sam, who had been an otherwise healthy guy, has just brain-died from an accident. Sam is registered as an organ donor, so the doctors take his kidney and puts it in Bob. Bob decides to pay it forward to other sick people, and signs himself up for organ donation. After a long and healthy stretch of years, Bob goes riding his bike without a helmet, and smashes into a tree. He is declared dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. In the next room over, Joe is waiting for a kidney transplant. Can Sam’s kidney that was in Bob now go to Joe? Does it depend on the organ in question? If it can be done, how long can this game of Musical Organs go on? ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycled-organs/550544/2 "2010-08-19T15:34:28Z")
Okay, I’ve talked to my mom, an ex-nurse, and I’m reformulating the question slightly. A kidney from a stranger probably isn’t going to be donatable, what with the anti-rejection drugs and whatnot. So say that Sam is Bob’s brother. Maybe Sam is even a live donor. Bob’s body accepts the organ without a hitch. One day Bob’s son, Joe, goes out for a drink with a cute stranger. He wakes up the next morning in a bathtub full of ice, with a note saying _Thanks for the kidneys, pal, call 911_. At the same time, Bob is dying of complications from having an argument with a tiger. (The tiger won). Bob dies just as the ambulance brings Joe. Can Joe get Bob’s kidney that was originally Sam’s? How far can it go? Can an organ theoretically be passed down from relative to relative? “This is Aunt Marge’s liver, right here, and I also have Grandpa Nate’s gall bladder, and this is my father’s pancreas…” ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycled-organs/550544/3 "2010-08-20T12:44:48Z")
Don’t recycled organs have to be matched? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycled-organs/550544/4 "2010-08-20T12:49:41Z")
Organs age. Kidneys have fewer nephrons with each passing day. I assume this would come into consideration. ---
**Author:** ![GHO57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df788c/32.png) [@GHO57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GHO57)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycled-organs/550544/5 "2010-08-20T12:52:47Z")
I’ve always wondered if you can get your organs back if you did a live donation, and the person dies accidentally. ---
**Author:** ![Ninja\_Lauren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/46a35a/32.png) [@Ninja\_Lauren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ninja_Lauren)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2010, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recycled-organs/550544/6 "2010-08-20T13:03:02Z")
Well, I would assume that as long as Bob took care of the kidneys, and Sam is a compatible donor to Joe, then sure. I just wonder how the transplantation process affects the organ itself? I mean, maybe it’s too hard on the organ to go through more than once or twice. It’s a good question, now you’ve got me wondering. Too bad I’m not a doctor, I just play one on T.V.!😃