Moral dilemma

Moral dilemma…

Picture this:

40 year old man owns a thriving construction company based in South Africa, beautiful housewife wife and 3 lovely children.

Mother’s (66 years of age) kidneys collapse. The only way to save her life is a transplant or dialysis.(read more on Dialysis)

The dialysis process

Transplant involves a donor and there are already a lot of people on the list and her age doesn’t help in bumping her up the list.

Son moves mother from her home in Zimbabwe to South Africa where she can be dialysed twice a week and he can keep a close eye on her.

A woman on dialysis

Father can only visit so much, he has business interests in Zimbabwe and cannot be away for long periods of time.

The arrangement with mother has been going on for a year now and Father is tired of being alone…. He is having an affair… everybody knows about it…

Son won’t even get tested to find out if he is a suitable candidate for a kidney donor for mother. He is afraid that if he is there will be so much pressure for him to donate one of his kidneys to her.

His logic is that he has a family of his own to take care of, what if something happens on the operating table? What if his one remaining kidney collapses later on in his life? Besides mother is old, she has watched her children grow up and now her grandchildren, she has lived; now I will use my money to ensure that her last days are as comfortable as possible….

This is a real life scenario…

What would you do if you were son???

We know that you have the financial capacity to keep her on dialysis (it’s not cheap, an average of $15 000 per month) for as long as she is alive but keeping her in South Africa is negatively affecting her marriage.

The chances of her getting a random donor are slim, everyone knows that. You could at least get tested and find out if you are a suitable donor. Imagine if you take the transplant option and nothing happens to you; both you and mother live long happy lives.

Imagine of you give her a kidney and you your remaining one collapses and you die, leaving your family behind. Would mother ever forgive herself?

Imagine if you aren’t even a suitable candidate.

What would I do????

its a catch 22...