Inmate Seeks to Give Last Kidney to Daughter

Nearly three years ago, prison inmate David Patterson donated a kidney to a girl he hardly knew--his daughter.

His gift revived their relationship and gave Renada Daniel Patterson new hope.

Now, after the girl stopped taking powerful drugs that stave off rejection of transplanted organs, the transplanted kidney is failing. Patterson wants to give the Vallejo teenager his remaining kidney, an operation that would place his life in jeopardy.

Patterson, who is serving time for burglary, had his sentence extended five years after heroin was found in his cell.

The 16-year-old girl’s doctors at UC San Francisco originally balked at the transplant request, but an ethics panel is now reviewing the matter at the urging of Renada’s family, said the girl’s mother, Vickie Daniel.

Patterson’s unusual offer, which would require the approval of prison officials, raises questions about whether a person can sacrifice his own future for someone else’s through organ transplantation.

Patterson, 37, could survive for a time without kidneys by undergoing dialysis, but his health would be constantly threatened.

Taxpayers would be saddled with the cost of moving Patterson under guard to the San Francisco Bay Area for the operation. The government would pick up the bill for dialysis.

“I am told this is something he wants to try to do. But it’s a dire question at this point,” said Lt. Billy Mayfield, a spokesman for California State Prison at Sacramento, where Patterson is now imprisoned. “I can see a good argument on both sides.”

Daniel said that in recent months Patterson has developed a strong emotional bond with his daughter, who is a high school junior.

If the transplant takes place, it would be the girl’s third such operation. Renada was born with one unhealthy kidney, which surgeons replaced when she was 5. Her body rejected the organ, and she underwent dialysis for seven years.

Doctors determined that her father was the most suitable donor, and in 1996 he gave the girl one of his kidneys. Without her mother’s knowledge, Renada stopped taking the drugs that stave off rejection of transplanted organs but cause uncomfortable side effects, Daniel said.

The girl’s condition is now deemed critical.