Table 1.

Evaluation protocol for potential living kidney donors - Course of the psychosomatic assessment

		Content	Carried out by
Step 1	First information (informed consent)		Nephrologist/ Surgeon
Step 2	First psychosomatic assessment	1. Mental stability, actual psychosocial situation	Different evaluators (two psychosomatic specialists) for donor and recipient
		2. Scrutinization and verification of the informed consent
		3. Verification of voluntariness taking relative behavioral patterns and neuroticisms of the donor into consideration
Step 3	Other medical examinations
Step 4	Second psychosomatic assessment	1. Dynamics of the relationship between donor and recipient	Donor, recipient and their evaluators (=advocates)
		2. Anticipation of the transplantation
Step 5	Transplantation board	External assessment consisting of	Members of the transplantation board by the general medical association (a physician, a magistrate, a psychologist or specialist of psychosomatics)
	Evaluation by the general medical association	- verification of voluntariness
		- exclusion of financial interests
Final Informed consent	Last preparations prior to the operation		Anesthesiologist, Surgeon