Unraveling the Issues of Compensated Organ Donations

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Introduction

Compensated organ donations – one of the most controversial issues we have today. The scarcity of organ donations in America is the main reason there is a sudden diversion of possible source of organs. Beginning with donations of organs from cadaver to living donors, different strategies sprung just to reduce the said shortage; as a result of this quest, sale and paid organs is one of the approaches that gathered too much attention from the public. The controversy of paid organ donations entered the limelight when the state of Wisconsin offered incentives to the living donors. This law, which was created in the year 2004, grants tax deduction and repayment of donation expenses such as travel cost and lost earnings. Historically, neither property right to human corpse nor license to remove and transfer the organs of a cadaver is evident in the universal law. Hence, when transplants became possible, there were no legal systems that would allow individuals to donate their organs upon death for the purpose of transplants. To resolve this problem, UAGA or Uniform Anatomical Gift Act was publicized in the year 1968. This act grants individual the right to choose before death whether their organs will be donated or offered for transplants. In case, the individual can no longer decide because of his condition, the relatives have to right to decide for him. UAGA openly deals with organ donations but it is silent with the issue of sales and compensated organs. Buying and selling of organs remained unclear after the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) was approved in 1984. It improves the system of voluntary organ donation and prohibits the commercial markets of organs by turning it into a federal crime. Experts say that the ...

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