Paying Organ Donors

In United States, it is estimated that more than 80,000 people are on organ transplant waiting list. Out of this number more than 5,000 die waiting for an organ because there are not enough organs for transplant. According to the United Network for OrganSharing (UNOS), about 16 of those on organ waiting list die every day. For the past three decades organ donation system has depended only on altruism; that is people decide to become organ donors because they are driven by the passion to help their fellow human beings. The traditional effort to get people to become donors is through education and public campaign. Organ transplantation is a big business in Medical Centers. Every transplant center wants a share of the profit. For example, the estimated cost for heart transplant during the first post transplant year is between $393,000.00 and $480,000.00. Due to the shortage of organ donors and the long list of people waiting for organ transplant the AmericanMedical Association set up a panel to study and come up with a recommendation on ways to increase organ and tissue donation. One of the recommendations suggested by some members of the panel is to offer money to living donors and to family members of dead donors. Paying people to donate organs is not ethical and not morally right. It will open doors for people to donate their organs if they are in need of money. This means a healthy person would risk his or her life for the sake of money. No study has been done to examine the quality of life of living organ donors. Financial incentives to organ donors and/or their family will lead to abuse. For example, a family member of a dying person will pressure him or her to sign on for organ donation because of the financial gain that will come after the person passes away. If money is involved, it may lead to who pays more gets the organ. This could be a recipe for people to start buying and selling organs. It will also erode the moral believe that organ donation is a gift of life and should never be bought or sold. The society as a whole and especially the medical community have moral obligation to assess potential organ donors and prohibit any donation that might arouse moral and ethical concern.