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from the you-put-your-left-leg-in,-your-left-leg-out... dept.
ScienceDaily reports:
Researchers say there should be an international database containing the very latest information about organ donations and transplants, so policy makers can make informed decisions on whether to adopt an opt-out or opt-in system.
The call comes after a study [in the UK], carried out by The University of Nottingham, the University of Stirling and Northumbria University, showed that overall an opt-out system might provide a greater number of organs for transplant but many factors can influence the success of either system and a repository of accessible information would help individual countries decide which one would be better for them.
The research published in the online academic journal BioMed Central Medicine (BMC Medicine), is the first international comparison that examines both deceased as well as living organ/transplant rates in opt-in and opt-out systems.
[...] Professor Fergusson argues that it is imperative for transplant organizations to routinely collect data on important organ donation indices -- consent type, procurement procedure, number of intensive care beds and trained surgeons -- and make this publicly available to inform future research and policy recommendations.
(Score: 2) by monster on Tuesday September 30 2014, @04:36PM
I guess I'm the opposite, then.
In my country, blood donation has no economic incentive. It just has a few associated advantages when visiting sick relatives at the hospital (more visiting hours, though it's usually not enforced and you get no privilege at all). I've been a blood donor for many years. However, I know that if they started paying for the blood, as some economists have proposed, I would stop donating. I do it as a civic duty, but given that blood has only a few days of "shelf life" before it must be disposed of, I would left it to people who needed the money. If it's just about a commercial endearvour, I value my time much more than they would pay for.
To be fair, I have to admit that the blood bank service in my country is public and quite controlled to be kept fair, and like with transplants there's no "money buys you a better place in the queue".
Mixing morals and money has sometimes unintended consequences.