Study: Paying People To Donate Kidneys May Increase Donors
By Kim Glovas
PHILADELPHIA (CBS)--A new study in a national medical journal suggests paying people to donate kidneys might increase the number of people becoming donors.
The study is in this month's edition of the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Doctor Peter Reese, medical professor and epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, says it could be a good idea, but there are risks involved.
"We should be very careful about really accepting the healthiest people. And they undergo an extensive evaluation. The concern is that if we pay people, then m,ore people might donate, but those people might be less healthy. And if they were really desperate for the money, they might even withhold information and not tell their doctors about health problems they've had in the past."
The study suggest $10,000 per kidney. Reese says there are over 80,000 people currently waiting for kidney donors in this country. But he believes that this study is a starting point for a more rigorous discussion.
