Nondirected liver donation in Canada--from the beginning

The Ottawa Citizen has the story:

The Gosling Effect: How one man (and his liver) forever changed Canadian health care. In 2005, Kevin Gosling became the first living Canadian to anonymously donate an organ to a stranger. It set a cascade of kindness into motion.  by Elizabeth Payne 

"It had been a long road for the then-46-year-old from Cornwall, Ont. For months, health officials wouldn’t take him seriously when he offered to donate the organ anonymously. We don’t do that here, he was told. Not only that, it had never been done before anywhere in Canada.

"Some top officials in Canada’s leading liver transplant program were adamantly opposed to Gosling’s proposal. They said it was unethical and immoral. They questioned his motives, even his sanity. But Gosling persisted, so far as to undergo months of physical and psychological testing and preparation.

"After more than a year and a half, everything was set to go.

...

"Gosling didn’t know much about the recipient. He only knew that it was a child.

...

"Gosling’s stubborn altruism and unwavering belief that he could make a life-changing difference to someone in desperate need almost single-handedly changed Canada’s health-care system.

"In the 19 years since that fateful day when transplant surgeons removed part of Gosling’s liver and transplanted it into the body of the very ill child, the Toronto General Hospital has completed more than 137 such operations involving people donating anonymously to strangers – more than any other hospital in the world.

...

"He was a pioneer in an area in which Canada is now a world leader – the act of anonymously donating part of a liver – a phenomenon that continues to be met with disbelief in some parts of the world.

...

"Gosling’s offer was turned down multiple times until he was eventually put in touch with the head of the multi-organ transplant program at University Health Network, one of only two hospitals in the country where living liver transplants are now routinely done. Along the way he met health officials who were adamantly opposed to the idea, even citing the Hippocratic oath. (Later, he was told by one staunch opponent that following Gosling’s case had made him change his mind.)"

HT: Colin Rowat

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See also:

Cattral, Mark S., Anand Ghanekar, and Nazia Selzner. "Anonymous living donor liver transplantation: The altruistic strangers." Gastroenterology 165, no. 6 (2023): 1315-1317.

and here are all my posts on nondirected donors: https://marketdesigner.blogspot.com/search/label/nondirected%20donor