The stakes are literally life and death. More than 100,000 patients are on the national transplant list, awaiting organ transplants, with thousands needlessly dying before receiving them. For now, a single nonprofit, The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), is the sole organization responsible for matching organ recipients with donors. Last year the 42,888 organ transplants performed were just not enough.
UNOS
There are precedents in healthcare to tethering financial compensation to body parts, as in the case with egg or sperm donation, and surrogacy. Are organs any different?
A new law passed by a slim margin in the Netherlands reflexively making anyone over the age of 18 an organ donor, compelling them to have to take specific action to opt out. Should the U.S. follow suit?