Saturday, December 29, 2007

Kudos to Cato Institute

The Cato Institute has produced an outstanding policy analysis of the ethical issues surrounding live kidney donation and the use of incentives. Written by Arthur J. Matas, MD, it makes a compelling case for ethically appropriate ways to compensate kidney donors in order to overcome the dire shortage. He argues that "allowing the sale of kidneys from living donors would greatly increase the supply of kidneys and thereby save lives and minimize the number of patients suffering on dialysis."

Dr. Matas is a professor of surgery and director of the kidney transplant program at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Matas has been a practicing transplant surgeon for more than 25 years and is the immediate past prresident of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons.

You can read the full white paper here.

1 comment:

Cristy at Living Donor 101 dot com said...

With so many flaws in UNOS/OPTN's policies regarding living donors, it's unfortunate you find any arguement advocating compensation "compelling". For 50 yrs, kidneys have been harvested from living donors yet there is no comprehensive long-term data on LDs health and well-being. As a recent utilization report indicates, 30% of follow-up forms from 2006 are incomplete and some transplant centers have reported ALL of their living donors as 'lost to follow up'. Until the transplant industry cares for living donors as thoroughly as they should, compensation is simply another form of coercion and abuse.