Misattributed paternity in a living related donor: to disclose or not to disclose?
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Updated: Aug 22, 2026

Stable Isotope In-Vivo Labeling for Mass-Spectrometry Identification of Paternal Metabolites Transferred from Sperm to Oocyte During Fertilization
Published on: June 17, 2025
Douglas W Soderdahl1, Danny Rabah, Thomas McCune
1Department of Urology, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia 23510, USA.
Abstract:
Many ethical considerations surround living kidney donation, some of which are not anticipated. We present a case in which misattributed paternity was inadvertently discovered during the workup of a father and son and present arguments for and against disclosure of this information. We recommend that transplant programs advise patients participating in living organ donor programs that misattributed paternity might be discovered during routine preoperative testing and that protocols for dealing with complex ethical issues be in place.
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