I Want My Kidney First. I Signed My Donor Card.
According to USA Today, a proposal has put forth by the president of the nonprofit organization, LifeSharers, to reward those who had agreed to be organ donors (by signing the organ donor cards) prior to being put on the transplant list by moving them to the top of the transplant list.
Why? According to Lifesharers' president Undis, only half of Americans eligible to be organ donors sign up. So is this a proposal to incentivize signing the back of one's driver's license or to reward those who chose to donate organs when they were healthy or both?
While it certainly is a provocative proposal and may even have the incidental benefit of increasing the number of persons who sign donor cards, there is merit in the system that currently exists which is based on giving organs to those with the greatest medical need.
What I would propose is some combination of the Lifesharer's criterion--having signed a donor card--considered in combination with the sickness of the potential recipient. It seems hardly fair that all persons who signed donor cards who need organs should jump the queue ahead of even the sickest of patients, yet there is at the very least some intuitive appeal in rewarding those individuals who had been willing to donate kidneys, livers, eyes, hearts and more prior to their own illness.
Lifesharer's just may be on to something, but I don't think they've solved the entire organ shortage and queuing problem. A hybrid solution between the UNOS prioritization system used now and Lifesharers is most likely to be the optimal solution for all. Plus it may have additional benefit of incentivizing choosing to be an organ donor.
Summer Johnson, PhD
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About 50% of the organs transplanted in America go to people who haven't agreed to donate their own organs when they die. As long as we let non-donors jump to the front of the waiting list if they need a transplant we'll always have an organ shortage.
There is a simple way to put a big dent in the organ shortage -- give organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Anyone who wants to donate their organs to others who have agreed to donate theirs can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers is a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.
- by Dave Undis on Jan 27, 2009 at 1:26 PM | link
Thank you for your comments, Dr. Undis. Given the way you have explained your proposal, it suggests an implicit "play-or-play" notion. What I urge you to answer is this question: is this really a moral argument you are making regarding the importance of altruistic acts involving organ donation or a pragmatic policy to increase the number of potential organ donors? I would like to hear more about the moral underpinnings of what you are proposing.
- by Summer Johnson, PhD on Jan 27, 2009 at 5:19 PM | link
The purpose of LifeSharers is a pragmatic one -- to save lives by increasing the number of organ donors. That is also the purpose of our proposal that UNOS establish two separate transplant waiting list, one for registered organ donors and the other for everyone else.
Making organ allocation fairer is just a side benefit.
- by Dave Undis on Jan 27, 2009 at 5:34 PM | link