Payment for living organ donation should be legalised

Colombia’s organ trade: Evidence from Bogotá and Medellín

“…Citing the supply deficit of healthy organs, unreliability of the altruistic organ donation model represented by the Gift of Life program, wait-list inefficiencies, health risks/hazards to patients and economic incentives in underground trading, they advocate using markets to increase supply, lower costs and diminish social anxiety toward organ sales (Harris 2002;Friedman 2002;Becker and Elias 2007;Satel 2009). …”

Kidney black markets and legal transplants: Are they opposite sides of the same coin?

“…Black market kidney (or organ) trading is illegal or has been prohibited because governments consider it to be repugnant [13,14] and/or it produces harmful consequences [15]. From a government's standpoint, these ethical and behavioral implications (policy costs) outweigh the benefits to be derived by individuals and society from a legally constituted, compensation-based and regulated kidney market that several economists and medical scholars have vigorously advocated [6,[16][17][18], but others have consistently opposed due to possible misuse and exploitation [19][20][21][22]. Thus, the legal but inefficient system of wait-lists often prevails.…”

Ethical Controversies in Organ Transplantation

“…They argue that the feeling of repugnance of organ sale for the rich and the healthy should not justify removing the only hope for the destitute and dying. Cameron and Hoffenberg [Cameron etal 1999& Ghods etal 2006& Friedman 2006& Laurance 2008 have recommended that organs be paid for through nationally established organ sharing networks to ensure the quality of care received by donors and to promote the equity of distribution which will involve the ethical and medical problems that exist with organ sale. Radcliffe-Richards et al [Radcliffe etal 1998] have emphasized that current exploitation of donors and lack of informed consent through organ purchase are due to poverty and lack of education, which do not justify banning organ sale.…”

“…They suggest that a national organization be established to regulate the sale of organs or provide educational and appropriate consultation to patients to enable them to have informed consent and even a 'guardian' for the donor. Also this organization will regulate and control organ vending, proper selection, payment of fees and provision of necessary care which will prevent the current exploitation, the risk of removing organs, both for the donor and the recipient, and provide screening and counseling, together with reliable payment and financial incentives [Friedman E 2006& Friedman Al 2006& Surman etal 2008. They believe that this will not affect cadaveric donation, since payment can also be made to the family of the deceased.…”