Ethical Incentives– Not Payment– For Organ Donation

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The 1984 National Organ Transplant Act forbids the sale of organs and provides a legal basis that selling parts of one’s body is unethical. Incentives for organ donation could recognize the great deed a donor has done without attaching a specific monetary value. Some “ethical incentives” proposed include a Congressional medal, partial funeral expense reimbursement, medical leave, organ exchange, and long-term donor insurance. To some, the distinction between payment and incentive may be hazy,afterall, each of these incentives has a monetary value. The authors argue that “nonmonetary recognition of donation appeals to our notions of equity and, most important, does not subvert the altruistic social good that must be preserved in a revised system of organ donation.” Maintaining the prohibition of organ sales will limit the exploitation of the poor and uphold the basic ethical principles which keep society functioning.