martin-livingdeceasedorgan-2015.pdf (62.22 kB)
Living and deceased organ donation should be financially neutral acts
journal contribution
posted on 2015-05-01, 00:00 authored by F L Delmonico, Dominique MartinDominique Martin, B Domínguez-Gil, E Muller, V Jha, A Levin, G M Danovitch, A M CapronThe supply of organs—particularly kidneys—donated by living and deceased donors falls short of the number of patients added annually to transplant waiting lists in the United States. To remedy this problem, a number of prominent physicians, ethicists, economists and others have mounted a campaign to suspend the prohibitions in the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 (NOTA) on the buying and selling of organs. The argument that providing financial benefits would incentivize enough people to part with a kidney (or a portion of a liver) to clear the waiting lists is flawed. This commentary marshals arguments against the claim that the shortage of donor organs would best be overcome by providing financial incentives for donation. We can increase the number of organs available for transplantation by removing all financial disincentives that deter unpaid living or deceased kidney donation. These disincentives include a range of burdens, such as the costs of travel and lodging for medical evaluation and surgery, lost wages, and the expense of dependent care during the period of organ removal and recuperation. Organ donation should remain an act that is financially neutral for donors, neither imposing financial burdens nor enriching them monetarily.
History
Journal
American journal of transplantationVolume
15Issue
5Pagination
1187 - 1191Publisher
WileyLocation
London, Eng.Publisher DOI
Link to full text
ISSN
1600-6135Language
engPublication classification
C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journalCopyright notice
2015, WileyUsage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC