Organ Donation Ads on Craigslist?

People on Waiting Lists for a New Kidney Are Taking Matters Into Their Own Hands

People can get cars, boats, jobs, pets and even dates on Craigslist. So why not a kidney?

More and more patients across the U.S., many facing a life-or-death wait for a suitable organ, are turning to Internet sights like Craigslist to find a kidney donor. (ABC News Photo Illustration)

More and more patients across the U.S., many facing a life-or-death wait for a suitable organ, are turning to Internet sites like Craigslist to find a kidney donor.

And some are finding them. Their ingenuity has saved lives, and cut waiting times by years -- possibly a decade or more for some.

It's not hard to see why some families are willing to take this route. Last year, 4,505 people died on traditional lists waiting for a kidney, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing.

But some families who talked to ABC News say once they find a kidney outside of the traditional organ-donor waiting list system, they have faced hospitals that are suspicious or unprepared to deal with the legal and ethical questions of harvesting an organ from a living person located through personal ads.

Only 10 percent of transplant centers will consider doing a kidney transplant from an altruistic live donor who is not related or known by the patient.

And only 20-30 percent of transplant centers are willing to perform a so-called "kidney swap" between two families at the hospital who can't find a blood-type match for their loved ones among their own family, but are well-matched across families.

These barriers would not deter Brian Golbad, a 25-year-old from Los Angeles, from his New Year's resolution to find his dad a kidney. It was a promise that would lead him to search for a donor on the Internet.