Many people are choosing to donate an organ to someone in need. The long wait associated with receiving organs from the deceased, has led to an explosion in living-donor transplants. Some years, the number of living donors surpassed the number of donations from deceased donors.

Standards are being set to develop policies governing living donation. Two of the main guidelines are setting a minimum surgical experience needed and mandatory independent donor advocates. A third guideline is a set of information given to potential donors. Many potential donors are unaware of the full amount of testing needed and other things that happen before they can donate.

While the guidelines are good in some aspects, surgeons worry that the governing board is getting too involved in decisions that should be left up to surgeons. The American Society of Transplant Surgeons is reviewing the guidelines.