A growing shortage of human organs for transplant means thousands of Americans die each year. To encourage more people to donate, should living organ donors receive financial compensation?

Causes


Despite years of work to recruit more donors, there is an increasing shortage of organs available for transplant in the U.S. -- the waiting list of recipients has expanded by 25% from just 7 years ago. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nation's largest organ and tissue donation clearinghouse, reports that 14,431 people awaited an organ transplant in the U.S. as of last May, yet only 4,493 organs from 2,219 donors were transplanted nationwide.

In an effort to combat this severe shortage and encourage people to take part in donation programs, some in the medical community now favor introducing specific forms of compensation for those living patients who donate kidneys, bone marrow, or parts of a liver. Federal law currently prohibits financial incentives for selling an organ, but doesn’t bar reduced rates on future health care coverage as a viable form of compensation for organs donated. Under this system health insurers and private charities would provide potential donors with an incentive to go through the inconvenience and possible risks that an operation might entail. Ultimately, this would ensure a strictly regulated market in organs.

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