Organ supply

TVNZ's CloseUp made the case for compensating live organ donors for lost earnings. I can't embed the video, but I show up in it. I argue that moving the deceased organ donation decision from the time of death to the time of estate planning, by allowing compensation for funeral expenses, could help take the heat out of those decisions and overcome a reflexive tendency where families uselessly want to protect the newly deceased.

Their interviewed transplant surgeon thinks paying people for organs is abhorrent but compensating them for forgone earnings isn't bad. I have a hard time seeing the ethical distinction, but whatever framing works is fine by me.

Previously:

• Compensate cadaveric organ donors with free funerals. It's odd that Otago can cover a cremation subsidy for those leaving their bodies to science, but we can't compensate organ donors for similar donations.
• Encourage LifeSharers as a way of boosting donation rates rather than try to stomp on it [see also here]. 
• Consider the other steps taken by Israel: priority access to donated organs for those signing on as organ donors. See here and here.
• Small steps towards a better world

Hit the "Organ Markets" tab for all the prior posts on the topic.