[Linkpost] “How I failed to donate my kidney” by Santeri T 🔹

This is a link post. Cross-posted from my personal blog after strong encouragement from two people. The text is partially personal musings over my journey through the pre-surgery process, and partially a review of arguments why it might or might not make sense for a person who cares about effective altruism to donate a kidney. Some of the content is specific to where I am based in (Finland), and some of the content is less honed than I'd like, but if I didn't timebox my writing and just push whatever I have at the end of it I probably would not publish anything. Hope you enjoy! June 4, 2025 I was eating phở in the city center when the call came. The EM study had been done. "Bad news," my nephrologist said. "You have a kidney disease." The words hit harder than the spicy broth. After more than nine months [...] ---Outline:(01:13) The Decision(02:04) The QALY Trade-off(07:02) My Journey Begins(10:22) Fixing Scott's CT Scan Calculations(12:45) The Troubles(13:10) The Microhematuric Mystery(14:21) The Kidney Biopsy(15:31) The Final Verdict(16:10) Understanding Thin Basement Membrane Disease(17:54) The Silver Linings(18:35) Lessons Learned from a Failed Donation(20:39) The EndThe original text contained 6 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: July 7th, 2025 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/fTQpM4We3JmCH6k4Q/how-i-failed-to-donate-my-kidney Linkpost URL:https://open.substack.com/pub/nihilcavum/p/thoughts-on-kidney-donations?r=f8fef&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.