Paid organ donation still a sticky wicket

Personal Money Network | Sam Hoober


The issue of paid organ donation remains as contentious as ever. Photo Credit: Rainer Zenz/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA

It is fairly well known that there are far more people on organ transplant lists than will ever likely get one. However, the idea of paid organ donation has been brought up as a possible solution, though evidence that it works and the reactions to the possibility are a mixed bag.

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplant Network, part of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration, there are 115,045 people waiting to get an organ transplant as of Aug. 28, 2012. Not all will receive one either. According to a 2009 USA Today article, roughly 4,500 people die every year just waiting for a kidney transplant and, according to ABC, roughly 18 people die waiting for an organ every day.

To shore up the shortage and wait times, it has been suggested that paid organ donation be an option. The issue is contentious, due to the ethics involved. It means people could donate kidneys or pieces of liver or other organs for monetary gain or that possibly rich people will just buy up the available supply, leaving everyone else to hold on or die.

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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}