Press Release by
Cato Institute
Iran's compensation program completely
eliminates kidney shortage
WASHINGTON -- The United States suffers from an
acute shortage of kidneys for transplant, with 73,000 people waiting for
deceased donors to make organs available. Allowing compensation for donors, an
idea that has allowed Iran to completely eliminate its waiting lists, would help
solve this problem, reports a new study by the Cato Institute.
In "Organ
Sales and Moral Travails," Benjamin E. Hippen, MD, transplant
nephrologist, shows that Iran's system of compensated donation has effectively
provided the organs needed for transplant. "Iran is the only country that
legally permits kidney vending," he writes. "The waiting list for kidneys was
eliminated in 1999, 11 years after the legalization of organ vending, and for
the past 8 years, Iran has had no waiting list for kidneys."
Concerns about the negative impacts of offering
financial incentives for kidney donation naturally arise. Hippen reports that
Iran has addressed this problem by putting a non-profit intermediary between
potential kidney vendors and patients in need. "Separating the role of
identifying vendors from the role of evaluating their medical, surgical, and
psychological suitability permits transplant professionals to avoid confusing
judgment on a vendor's candidacy with various financial and professional
incentives to perform more transplants," Hippen writes.
Though the Iranian system is not perfect, it
offers lessons that would be of value to American policy makers seeking to
reduce the United States' tragic organ shortage by setting up markets. "A review
of 20 years of experience with a living organ vendor system in Iran reveals
successes, deficiencies, and ambiguities," Hippen concludes. "If the discussion
of kidney markets in this country can progress beyond preconceptions as to what
can and cannot work, in Iran or elsewhere, to an examination of the example of
the Iran based on the evidence, that will be a significant step in the right
direction."
About: The Cato Institute was founded in
1977 by Edward H. Crane. It is a non-profit public policy research foundation
headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Institute is named for
Cato's Letters,
a series of libertarian pamphlets that helped lay the philosophical foundation
for the American Revolution.
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