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Compensation for Live Organ Donors

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Compensation for Live Organ Donors
Compensation for Live Organ Donors

HU 280 – Bioethics
February, 19, 2012

Compensation for Live Organ Donors Currently, there are over 100,000 people on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waiting list for organ transplantation (2012, Transplant Trends). Only 26, 246 transplantations occurred between January and November of 2011, (UNOS, 2012, Transplant Trends). There is a huge contrast in the number of people needing organs and the number of organs actually available for transplantation. This lack of organs creates a serious dilemma regarding how to increase the supply of organs for transplantation. So far, many of the efforts to increase organ donation have focused on the procurement from deceased donors; unfortunately, those efforts have failed to yield any significant increase to organ donation. Perhaps, it is now time to focus on increasing donation from live donors. Rather than the current method for organ procurement from live donors, which relies on altruism, there needs to be a shift toward providing incentives or compensation to live donors in the form of payment.
A Market for Organs
This system of payment cannot be a free-market where organ donors and recipients work out a deal; instead, this system needs to be a “regulated market in which the government would act as the purchaser of organs – setting a fixed price and enforcing conditions of sale” (Caplan, 2008). Parks & Wike provide an abridged version of the financial incentive plan for organ donation which was developed by Gaston, Danovitch, Epstein, Kahn, Matas, & Schnitzler (2010, p. 244-251). Their plan is well thought out and provides reasonable compensation to organ donors. Not only would their proposal provide compensation of wages and travel reimbursement during the evaluation and perioperative time frame; it would also include a $1,000,000 life insurance policy for 1 year following surgery, supplemental health insurance coverage until the donor reached


References: Caplan, A. (2008). Organ transplantation. From Birth to Death and Bench to Clinic: The Hastings Center Bioethics Briefing Book for Journalists, Policymakers, and Campaigns. Garrison, NY: The Hastings Center. 129-132. Retrieved from http://www.thehastingscenter.org/Publications/BriefingBook/Detail.aspx?id=2198 Kates, B. & Sherman W. (2009, July 26). Rogue kidney brokers resell organs from poorest nations on black market. New York Daily News. Retrieved from http://articles.nydailynews.com/2009-07-26/news/17928664_1_organ-trafficking-kidneys-united-network Lance, T.B. (1977, May). Nation 's Business. Retrieved from http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/if-it-aint-broke-dont-fix-it.html Parks, J. A., & Wike, V. S. (2010). Bioethics in a changing world. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Rohter, L. (2004, May 23). The organ trade: a global black market; tracking the sale of a kidney on a path of poverty and hope. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/23/world/organ-trade-global-black-market-tracking-sale-kidney-path-poverty-hope.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm UNOS - United Nation for Organ Sharing. (2012). Living donation information you need to know. Retrieved from http://www.unos.org/docs/Living_Donation.pdf UNOS - United Nation for Organ Sharing. (2012). Transplant trends. Retrieved from http://www.unos.org/ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). The need is real – and you can help fill it. Retrieved from http://www.organdonor.gov/about/data.html
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