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Elaine Perlman's avatar

Thank you for raising these concerns. The End Kidney Deaths Act does not create a market for organs. Coercion and organ sales would remain illegal and strictly enforced.

Kidney donation is not easy. It is time-consuming, painful, and stressful. It involves around 6 months of testing, major surgery, and recovery. It is morally right to compensate people for difficult, meaningful work.

Importantly, only about 2 percent of those who come forward to donate actually go through with it. Most are medically disqualified after undergoing rigorous physical and mental exams. That means there will be no flood of vulnerable people donating just for the money. The process is and will remain careful, thorough, and safe.

We already pay people to do risky, lifesaving work. We offer tax breaks to encourage adoption and renewable energy. These are incentives for choices we value as a society. A tax credit for those brave and compassionate enough to have a major surgery to save the life of someone they don't know is no different.

Around 100,000 people are waiting for a kidney. Half will die before one becomes available until the End Kidney Deaths Act passes. The current system favors those with means. A better system protects donors, respects their courage, and gives more people the freedom to help.

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Katie Burkhart's avatar

Does paying donors create a perverse financial incentive to donate? Does that create an opportunity for bad actors to force others to sell their kidneys for profit? Or for people in bad straits to sell body parts to make money?

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