Not surprised by the allegations you wrote about in the Wall Street journal. Perhaps you are aware that organ procurement organizations in the United States are working to have organ procurement centers where the patient (declared brain dead) goes to have the organs procured under the medical direction of the OPO? The argument is that it is peaceful and offers a place to the family to say goodbye and a place for the OPO to do their work without encumbering the hospitals. I think it sets up the OPO for deeper mistrust and produces a greater opportunity for malfeasance.
I was not aware of that. I know there are hospital-based OPOs that are provided for in Medicare rules—sounds like this would be something else entirely.
If anyone is to make money out of this, it should be the donors - or at least the estate of the deceased donors! I think it is entirely reasonable for the funding body (in my jurisdiction NSW Health) to pay for example, $100,000 (the cost of a patient being on dialysis for one year), into the estate of the donor to encourage donation and also to discourage waste! We certainly don't waste organs here in Australia, but we have a lot of difficult getting consent from families for their loved ones to donate organs at the end of their lives!
Some ethicists and economists have argued that paying for organ donation would bring more transparency and rationality to the donation process, and also increase the organ supply. I don't know enough to have a strong opinion but it sure would be an interesting debate.
Not surprised by the allegations you wrote about in the Wall Street journal. Perhaps you are aware that organ procurement organizations in the United States are working to have organ procurement centers where the patient (declared brain dead) goes to have the organs procured under the medical direction of the OPO? The argument is that it is peaceful and offers a place to the family to say goodbye and a place for the OPO to do their work without encumbering the hospitals. I think it sets up the OPO for deeper mistrust and produces a greater opportunity for malfeasance.
I was not aware of that. I know there are hospital-based OPOs that are provided for in Medicare rules—sounds like this would be something else entirely.
If anyone is to make money out of this, it should be the donors - or at least the estate of the deceased donors! I think it is entirely reasonable for the funding body (in my jurisdiction NSW Health) to pay for example, $100,000 (the cost of a patient being on dialysis for one year), into the estate of the donor to encourage donation and also to discourage waste! We certainly don't waste organs here in Australia, but we have a lot of difficult getting consent from families for their loved ones to donate organs at the end of their lives!
Some ethicists and economists have argued that paying for organ donation would bring more transparency and rationality to the donation process, and also increase the organ supply. I don't know enough to have a strong opinion but it sure would be an interesting debate.