Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Ross, Lainie Friedman
• Thistlethwaite, J. Richard

Titel

Gender and race/ethnicity differences in living kidney donor demographics: Preference or disparity?

Ist Teil von

• Transplantation reviews (Philadelphia, Pa.), 2021-07, Vol.35 (3), p.100614-100614, Article 100614

Ort / Verlag

United States: Elsevier Inc

Erscheinungsjahr

2021

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• In the United States, women are over-represented and Blacks are under-represented as living kidney donors. A traditional bioethics approach would state that as long as living donors believe that the benefits of participation outweigh the risks and harms (beneficence) and they give a voluntary and informed consent, then the demographics reflect a mere difference in preferences. Such an analysis, however, ignores the social, economic and cultural determinants as well as various forms of structural discrimination (e.g., racism, sexism) that may imply that the distribution is less voluntary than may appear initially. The distribution also raises justice concerns regarding the fair recruitment and selection of living donors. We examine the differences in living kidney donor demographics using a vulnerabilities analysis and argue that these gender and racial differences may not reflect mere preferences, but rather, serious justice concerns that need to be addressed at both the individual and systems level. •Blacks are under-represented as living kidney donors in the United States.•Women are over-represented as living kidney donors in the United States and globally.•Infrastructural vulnerability, including systemic racism, explains part of the under-representation of Black living donors.•Deferential vulnerability explains part of the over-representation of women living donors.