Financial Compensation for Organ Donors
Should organ donors get compensation for giving their organs to somebody else? Organ donors should get compensation because they are giving away their own organs to someone they may not even know or even met. They also have to deal with the medical expenses for getting their organ removed which shouldn’t be necessary because they are helping save someone’s life. They are also giving up something that belongs to them for the benefit of someone else, which they should at least get rewarded for their act of kindness.
Organ donors are people that donate form the good of their heart. They want to help people in need and by donating a vital organ to someone in need, they can potentially help save that
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If they aren’t able to pay the expenses on the spot, this can lead to a much longer and unwanted waiting period to find a suitable donor for the patient. Sometimes this can even mean life or death because the patient can be in critical condition and doesn’t have the time to wait for a donor to appear. This is where compensation can save the life of a patient in need, since they will be more likely to find the donor, because that donor won’t have heavy medical expenses to pay.
Other benefits that can occur from providing compensation for donors include getting an increase of people that can donate because there is no payment required. There could possibly be thousands of people out there wanting to donate an organ but just don’t have the money to do so, but if there was possible reward for this donation, it would invite more people to help out ones in need. Giving money for organ donation will motivate more people to go out and donate because they know they can get something in return out of it. This will increase the amount of donors available for those patients, thus saving more lives and keeping more people happy.
Some action is already being taken by reimbursing donors for their travel costs and some medical expenses as well. For example in an article posted by Scott Klarenbach, Organ Donors Should be Reimbursed for Their Expenses, it states, “In
The demand for organ donors far exceeds the supply of available organs. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) … there are more than 77,000 people in the U.S. who are waiting to receive an organ (Organ Selling 1). The article goes on to say that the majority of those on the national organ transplant waiting list are in need of kidneys, an overwhelming 50,000 people. Although financial gain in the U.S and in most countries is illegal, by legalizing and structuring a scale for organ donor monetary payment, the shortage of available donors could be reduced. Legalizing this controversial issue will help with the projected forecast for a decrease in the number of people on the waiting list, the ethical concerns around benefitting from organ donation, and to include compensation for the organ donor.
Nicky Santos, S.J., a visiting scholar at the Ethic Center, claims that people who are desperate often make decisions that are not the most beneficial for themselves, which then results in the rich having the privilege of excellent health care while the poor do not. There is also the “do no harm” rule in bioethics that forbid procedures that might harm donors. The question lies in whether we can make sure that donors’ health won’t be jeopardized in the transaction. On the contrary, some might say that not giving donors incentives actually put their health to more risk since no incentives have been given to pay for their medical bill in case the donors are harmed. There has also been debates about whether organ donation should remain as an act of altruism or should we instead move along to justice. While some might value such humanity and hate the idea of it being
Organ donations not only save lives but also money and time. If organ donations became prevalent the organ recipient would no longer need dialysis. Since there is no need for dialysis the cost to use the machine would lessen; this means that the cost of equipment would decrease, saving the hospital and insurance company’s money. More lives would be saved as well as benefit from those that no longer need an organ. In the book titled “Elements of Bioethics” adult organ transplants are only that have medical insurance. If organs are taken from recently deceased the cost for those that has no medical coverage was lessen. The process of organ transplantation is life changing and time is crucial. With shorter waiting time it would put ease on the person’s heart to know that this lifesaving event would happen sooner rather than later. In addition, when the organ is taken from the recently deceased the risk would be eliminated from
It is ethical to compensate organ donors. There are many reasons for supporting compensation for organ donors however; the main one is the number of organ donors will increase, which will save more than thousands of people. NOTA section 301 shows that NOTA’s prohibition was meant to protect against monetary commercial exchanges, such as those between patient–buyers, donor–sellers, and profiteering middlemen. The current view in compensating donors is not paying them the money for their organ on the spot, but by other helpful, resourceful compensations. Currently, there are still a great deal of patients on the waiting list that are dying and in desperate need of major transplants like heart, kidney and even liver. The activists who are against
How is it morally unacceptable for donors to receive compensation which can regulate their life after donation? Donors usually have to limit physical activities after surgery for several weeks. Most people cannot afford to take time off from work without a compensation.
Authorized compensation for organ donors have caused controversy around the world. Since there are no specific laws that prohibits compensation for organ donation; families have been damaged and torn apart due to the lack of information about the aftermath of a donation. In Manila, families see their bodies as a way out of poverty and this belief has passed down from the father to the mother to their children. Compensation in the case mentioned above might not be enough for someone who donates a liver or other organs. It can only be fair if it is done under fair circumstances. The recovery after the procedure needs to be a very important subject to talk about with both donor and recipient. Apparently, what is most important is just to save
There is no cost to donors or their families for organ or tissue donation. It's illegal to pay someone for an organ.
The ethical issue for the majority of people in the U.S. does not seem to be whether donating organs should be allowed, but instead should someone be compensated for their donation. As described earlier, the U.S. has a major shortage of organs and an even greater shortage is found in some areas of the world. However, countries like Iran have found a way to eliminate their shortage completely. “Iran adopted a system of paying kidney donors in 1988 and within 11 years it became the only country in the world to clear its waiting list for transplants.” (Economist, 2011) Although this sounds promising, it is important to look at the effects on the organ donor. In a study done on Iranian donors who sold their kidneys, it was found that many donors were negatively affected emotionally and physically after donating and that given the chance most would never donate again nor would they advise anyone else to do so. (Zargooshi, 2001) Additionally, many claimed to be worse off financially after donating due to an inability to work. (Goyal, 2002) To some, this last set of findings would be enough to supersede the benefit of clearing the organ waiting lists.
Being financially compensated for donating an organ affects the country. The money that will be paid to the donor comes from the government. The government gets money from the people through taxes. In turn, if people began to be financially compensated for donating an organ, insurance rates would go up. This would make citizens unhappy, as it would mean more money would need to be paid.
regarding decision making, there is certain opportunity cost, in other words, forgone alternative. In this case that would be the number of additional transplant organs that would potentially be donated if financial incentives were approved, so the simple answer to this is that people in need for specific organ or tissue would die. There are some possible solutions for all these problems, one of them would be financial incentives focused towards organ donors. Even though it is prohibited by the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) of 1984 any form of buying or selling organs in relation donor-organ broker-recipient and vice versa, there could be some additional monetary resources given to transplant organizations to better track organ donors so cases like health issues of donors previously mentioned could be avoided.
Illegal selling of organs on the black market would not necessarily decrease in the case of organ donors being allowed compensation. The questionable moral compass of organ harvesters may not sway seeing as their actions were already illegal. It is possible that organs continue to be harvested for selling on the black market and people desperate enough will continue to purchase their organs from there.
Many people believe that they should be rewarded for saving another person's life by donating an organ for them, claiming that they had a choice, so they should be praised for making the right decision to give it away! Well, if that's true, then we should be rewarded for picking up garbage that we dropped, or washing our hands after we use the restroom. People aren’t ordinarily rewarded, or praised, for something we are already expected to do. But, that is what is expected to happen when donating organs. Organ donation is the process of removing tissues along with organs from a human body for the purposes of transplanting. In many countries, the patients in need of organs have to pay the donor for the organ. The sale of human organs should
What is an organ donor? Organ donation is the process of surgically removing an organ or tissue from one person (the organ donor) and placing it into another person (the recipient). Many people become recipients for organ donation due to the fact that their organs have either failed or become damaged by an illness or injury. Organs, as well as tissues, can be donated and people of all ages can become donors.
“Donor” doesn’t quite describe a person being paid for giving something. Reimbursement is the key idea, but how can someone truly donate something with knowledge that he or someone that depends on him will benefit monetarily? A donor is someone who gives willingly without want of thanks or compensation, a volunteer. Donors, volunteers, are not “in it for the money.” A true donor donates his organ simply because it is saving a life, not because he wants himself or his family to get
If somebody wanted to donate something while they were alive, instead of waiting till they die, there are also some organs that can be donated while they are living. While living people can donate their kidney, part of their pancreas, part of a lung, part of a liver, part of the intestine, bone marrow, and blood (Organ and Tissue Donation). Most people who donate organs or tissues while they are alive donate the organ or tissue to a family member or friend, but there are some cases where they donate it to someone they don’t know. Some of the organs can regenerate themselves and some can’t. If somebody donates and organ while they are alive that doesn’t regenerate itself, they are still able to survive without it. For example somebody can donate a whole kidney and be okay, because they have another one and