ROCHESTER, Feb. 29 -- People who are overall healthy and living with well-controlled Type 2 diabetes can donate a kidney, thanks to a change in national policy. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network updated its living donor criteria . It makes some people with Type 2 diabetes eligible to donate a kidney. This marks a "significant shift" in criteria for living kidney donors, says Naim Issa, M.D., Mayo Clinic transplant nephrologist.

"This policy change may offer a lifeline to some people with end-stage kidney disease, providing them with a better chance for a successful transplant and improved quality of life," he says.

Nearly 89,000 people in the U.S. are on the waiting list for a potentially lifesaving kidney transplant, ac...