Yeah the call out of the blue with someone effectively saying “we need your help ASAP for someone in dire straits with a blood cancer” was extremely morally clarifying. My reaction was essentially the same as yours. That was one of the reasons I felt uncomfortable trying do a traditional EA cost-effectiveness breakdown for this (although I have it in a private google doc) -- why wouldn’t you just try to help save the other person’s life?
Donating right around the start of COVID lockdowns sounds like it would have been crazy! I’m very glad to hear your donation went well and you took the leap with kidney donation—I hope you had a positive experience with that one too.
Some folks in the comments on Scott Alexander’s piece on kidney donation were speculating that you would have an easier time getting kidney donations if there was some sort of similar matching process like for bone marrow (although it would have to be mostly artificial of course)
Yeah the call out of the blue with someone effectively saying “we need your help ASAP for someone in dire straits with a blood cancer” was extremely morally clarifying. My reaction was essentially the same as yours. That was one of the reasons I felt uncomfortable trying do a traditional EA cost-effectiveness breakdown for this (although I have it in a private google doc) -- why wouldn’t you just try to help save the other person’s life?
Donating right around the start of COVID lockdowns sounds like it would have been crazy! I’m very glad to hear your donation went well and you took the leap with kidney donation—I hope you had a positive experience with that one too.
Some folks in the comments on Scott Alexander’s piece on kidney donation were speculating that you would have an easier time getting kidney donations if there was some sort of similar matching process like for bone marrow (although it would have to be mostly artificial of course)