Kidney transplants

The surgeon Lord McColl describes kidney transplants:

Lord McColl of Dulwich (Con): One is presented with a cold, lifeless-looking donor kidney from some part of this country or flown in from any part of Europe. One connects the artery and a vein to a large artery and vein in the lower abdomen, and when one takes the clamps off, this lifeless thing springs to life. It is a most amazing sight.

One of the curious features used to be that the French kidneys would start passing urine immediately on the table before the ureter was plumbed into the bladder. I was curious to know what it was about the French kidneys that made that possible. An immediate explanation was that it was the French wine—after all, wine is a diuretic. In fact, however, the explanation was quite different; the French surgeons were taking the kidney while the heart was still beating, and therefore it was in much better condition.