The University of California San Francisco shut down its living donor program after the sudden death of a kidney donor, according to the Morning Ticker.
Here are four things to know:
1. The risk of death for kidney donors is 0.03 percent.
2. Deaths from anesthesia have plummeted since the 1940s, declining from 640 per 1 million patients to just four per 1 million by the end of the 1980s. However, that number my rise to about seven patients for every million, and one in 20 from general anesthesia within a year.
3. The rise may be due to the fact that more and more older adults are being operated on.
4. People who have complications like heart problems and high blood pressure face a higher risk when it comes to anesthesia. Being obese also has an impact.