It's a requirement to meet with an independent assessor from the Human Tissue Authority before donating an organ. This meeting takes place after all the tests have been done to make sure you're fit to donate, and is done by a person who doesn't work for the hospital (the lady who did mine was a retired nurse).
You can read more about it here, but essentially their role is to make sure you're not being paid, threatened or coerced into donating. She explained that it's not usually a problem for altruistic donors, as I self-referred and also I don't know the recipient. It's more tricky where a child is giving to a parent, or a wife/husband is giving to their spouse because they might feel pressured into it and I guess there could be a lot of guilt tripping going on.
We chatted about this - I told her that someone had suggested to me recently that I could get 25 grand if I flogged my kidney in America, and how appalled I was at this thought, and how I'd rather not give my kidney at all than sell it for hard cash. The whole point is to help someone in need - not just someone who could afford it! She asked me how my family felt about me donating, and lots of follow up questions about who would look after me after the op and practical arrangements. She also questioned my knowledge about the risks, about the op itself and the recovery - presumably to check that the hospital had given me adequate info to make an informed decision. She also asked me about whether I knew if I could withdraw consent at any time, and checked my expectations about hearing from the recipient afterwards (basically I have none).
I signed some paperwork and showed her my ID and that was about it. She was super-friendly and nice so it was quite fun really.
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