Table 1 Example incentive initiatives
From: Incentives and organ donation: what’s (really) legal in Canada?
Incentive | Valuable consideration? |
|---|---|
Priority as a potential recipient in exchange for donating | Likely. Donor has potential to receive a substantial benefit in return for registration. |
Potential donors who indicate a willingness to donate or who register to donate post mortem are placed on a priority list to receive an organ should they need one [3, 40]. | |
Donor recognition events | Likely. While the provisions of gifts to donors could be viewed as a form of reward that would, technically, be a form “valuable consideration”, it seems too insignificant to be considered a policy concern (more a symbolic gesture). |
Events hosted by organ procurement organizations in order to recognize living and deceased donors [41–43]. | |
Paired exchange programs | Likely. If participating in the program increases your chance of your intended recipient receiving an organ, it could be viewed as a benefit and, as a result, valuable consideration (hence the modification of the US law to allow such programs). |
These programs facilitate kidney donations by pairing those in need of a kidney with a willing but non-compatible donor with other such pairs. | |
Reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses and lost wages | Possibly. The degree to which these programs could constitute a “benefit” would likely need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis and may depend, inter alia, on the degree to which payment is truly for quantifiable costs. This would be equally true for policies that seek to provide money as a way to compensate for pain and suffering. |
Donors often incur expenses during the organ donation process. Some programs reimburse donors for these expenses, including travel, food and accommodation costs [3, 4, 12–14]. | |
Funeral expenses | Yes. The payment of costs of this nature would clearly infringe existing legislation as it is the provision of a benefit in exchange for donation. |
A system whereby donors have all or a portion of funeral expenses paid for or reimbursed [1–3, 25, 26]. | |
Tax credit | Yes. Even though not a direct payment, still an obvious financial benefit. |
A system whereby donors are granted a tax credit by either the federal or provincial government for donation organs [3, 44]. | |
Cash incentives | Yes. |