Selling organs & other alternatives

From ASSESSING INITIATIVES TO INCREASE ORGAN DONATIONS, JUNE 3, 2003, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE.

On the one hand, allowing people to pay for organs is a way to put another option "on the table."

"Given that so many people die each year waiting for an organ transplant, I believe all options should be put on the table as we discuss ways to increase organ donations." Comment of Rep. James Greenwood, 3.


Counterpoint: encourage poor people to sell organs is discriminatory.
It has been against the public policy of this country to pay people for organ donations for many, many years, and the reason is because legislative bodies have felt that it was repugnant to give financial incentives to folks to donate their own organs, and the feeling is that it would unduly put pressure on low-income individuals to do that. Comment of Rep. DeGette, 4.


Although there has been an increase in the number of organ donors
in recent years, the rate of increase has not kept pace with
the need of donated organs. Studies have found that less than 50
percent of potential eligible donors actually become donors. As a result,
there is a significant potential for increased organ donation to
take place and for an increased number of lives to be saved.
We simply need thoughtful policies to take advantage of this potential.
Comment of Joseph Roth, then-president-elect of UNOS, at 16.