It is barely 2 30 in the morning when the telephone rings: “Nephrologist on call?”

Though half asleep, I recognise the voice of the coordinator of Etablissement Français de Greffe (French National Institute of Transplantation), and my hand automatically reaches for the pen and paper by the bed. She gets right down to business: “Male, mid-20s, no medical history, group A positive, cause of death—road traffic crash, right kidney…” Fortunately, my pen is able to keep up with this stream of words, even though my brain is not fully awake yet. She continues without taking a breath: “CMV negative, EBV positive, Hep C negative…”

It's only after I put down the receiver that it dawns on …