iPHONE ALTRUISM FOR POTENTIAL ORGAN DONORS

October 26, 2009, 2:32 PM

iPhone Altruism for Potential Organ Donors

By FREAKONOMICS

Organ donation is one of the most altruistic things a person can do. And yet, as Chapter 3 of SuperFreakonomics spells out, relying on altruism for organ donations has proved to be largely unsuccessful. There are a lot of reasons people give for not signing up as organ donors. Often, they just fail to opt in because of laziness or forgetfulness. So Richard Thaler had an idea. Why not build an iPhone app to help people enlist as organ donors? That app, developed gratis, is available now. As to the question of our inherent level of altruism, which app do you predict will get more downloads over all: the one that helps people make a life-saving donation — or the one that helps them pick the right urinal?

Donate Life Organ & Tissue Donation Blog is interested in learning more from anyone with an iPhone about this app. Please submit your comments below.

In the meantime for those of us who are not iPhone owners, please do not forget to register to be an organ donor. To do so click HERE.

Source: The New York Times, Tuesday, October 27, 2009