According to the Wisconsin Organ Donor Network, some 82,000 patients across the United States await organ donation. Almost 1,500 of those patients reside here in the state of Wisconsin.
Currently, about 63 people will receive an organ transplant each day; however, another 16 on the waiting list will perish because of the shortage of organs. Even though 85 percent of the population supports organ donation, only 30 percent of the public has signed an organ-donor card or discussed the issue with their families.
Responding to the need for more donors, Wisconsin State Representative Steve Wiekert, R-Appleton, is sponsoring a bill providing a $10,000 income-tax deduction for living people who donate their organs.
“Ours is the first state in the nation to advance this sort of legislation,” Wiekert said.
It is hoped a tax break for organ donors will reduce, or even eliminate, the financial burden often incurred by donating. Typically, the insurance company of an organ recipient will cover the cost of a donor’s surgery along with related hospital expenses. However, the financial support stops there. Donors must shoulder the expense of surgery-related transportation, lodging and possible lost wages. Wiekert said he would like to see an end to this.
“[Donors] are so generous. Why should they be penalized?” Wiekert asked.
Wiekert hopes this bill will encourage organ donation without violating a 1984 federal law prohibiting financial incentives in exchange for human organs. He is attempting to skirt this law by packaging incentives in the form of a tax break.
However, some warn that any economic incentive for organ donation may represent the beginnings of a dangerous slide down a slippery ethical slope.
Robyn Shapiro, director of the Bioethics Center at the Medical College of Wisconsin, warns that financial incentives for organ donation, without proper safeguards, may lead to unethical medical practices. She acknowledges that reasonable compensation for organ donation makes sense. However, Shapiro reminds lawmakers they must be mindful to avoid implementing a system that is exploitative.
“Potential donors must be made aware of the risks,” Shapiro warns, “and the current system for recipient selection must remain in place as well.”
It is important that people not take on serious risks for the promise of a tax break. Similarly, financial incentives for donors must not become a burden for organ recipients, making some unable to shoulder the costs of a possible transplant.
Still, Wiekert is confident his bill will not compromise the ethics of the current organ-donor system and that tax deductions provided by the proposed legislation are not a financial incentive for organ donation.
“[There is] no financial incentive, simply the removal of a financial disincentive.”
Shapiro remains wary of legislation offering any sort of economic incentive to increase organ donations. She emphasizes the importance an ethical perspective must play in making such decisions, as well as the importance of the public in determining this kind of policy.
“The public should take interest in this and similar issues to ensure that its laws reflect the collective morality of the nation,” Shapiro said.
At present, no major opponents have stepped forward to challenge the bill, which legislators will vote on later this fall.
