Many people in this position turn to living donors. Such donation is possible because people have two kidneys, and a healthy person can lead a normal life with a single good one. Lisa turned to relatives, but they too had diabetes or wanted to preserve their kidneys in case their children developed it. She was desperate.

So when Rob Haneisen, a reporter at the MetroWest Daily News in Framingham, Mass., who has written about people in situations like hers, asked Lisa if he could interview her for a story, she jumped. Perhaps former colleagues, long lost friends, or a Good Samaritan would read about her and volunteer to donate. Lisa had even begun coordinating with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to prepare for a transplant, should a donor come forward as a result of the News article that ran on April 16.

Enter Dr. Douglas Hanto, head of the transplant division at Beth Israel. He had heard about Lisa's circumstance when Haneisen called him for an interview as part of the story. Before speaking to the reporter, Hanto had his staff phone Lisa right away to deliver shocking news: Beth Israel would flatly refuse to do her transplant if the only donor she could find was a kind-hearted stranger who responded to the article.

"We are in favor of donors coming forward and donating to the next person on the waiting list," Hanto told Haneisen. And how many have done that so far over the years, the reporter asked? "Just a couple," Hanto admitted. Also puzzling is Hanto's assertion: "We have hundreds of people on the waiting list. If we support some favored status for one patient, how can we really say we are being fair and looking out for all our patients?"

The fact is that Lisa harms nobody if a stranger responds to her story and comes to her aid. In fact, she helps people on the list because she is taken out of the cadaver-waiting queue and others can move up.