SWEDEN’S SERIOUS shortfall of kidneys, hearts and other organs could be solved by offering free funerals in exchange for the donation of the deceased’s organs, researchers believe.
The controversial plan, which would see municipalities’ health authorities paying funeral costs is aimed at bringing more equality to organ donation and “to thank donors posthumously for their generosity”, said one of the Swedish researchers.
The authorities could directly pay funeral bills – with a ceiling of €5,000 – cutting out potential abuse of the handout, or the money could be donated to a chosen charity, according to the plan.
But the proposal is generating a heated debate among Swedes, with some expressing repugnance that “a price” be put on organ donation.
In common with other western countries, under the terms of World Health Organisation organ declarations, organ trade is prohibited under Swedish law.
“But there is no real moral argument against what we have proposed, everyone else involved in organ delivery from transport teams to medical staff are paid,” argued Gustav Tinghög who helped compile the study at the Centre for Neuro and Behavioural Economics, Linköping.
“The only one who is not compensated is a deceased person whose organs save lives”.
The study did not specify the number of organs required for the funeral handout, but it seems that the deceased would be delivering those which are healthy and useful.
More than 750 people are awaiting a new kidney in Sweden and, tired of waiting, in excess of 30 are known to have travelled to poor countries in recent years to buy organs from impoverished donors.
It is a development described as repugnant, unacceptable and exploitative by Sweden’s Health and Social Affairs Minister Göran Hägland, who wants more Swedes to donate organs but has stopped short of endorsing any plan to pay funeral costs in return.
“There are a lot of people who say they are prepared to donate their organs – 80 per cent according to some studies – but there are very few who go from words to action,” he said recently.
In the past, organs could be removed from a deceased person unless they had withdrawn permission in life. But a change in the law nowadays requires would-be donors in Sweden to opt in for organ donation.
“If health authorities could pay for funerals in return for relatives allowing the donation of a deceased person’s organs there would be a much fairer distribution to those who need a new kidney or other organ transplant,” claims the study.
It would also benefit those who cannot find donors. “In Sweden, most of the organ donations are kept inside families and social networks so, in effect, those outside face discrimination,” according to the researchers.
Mr Tinghög added that the group hoped the organ donor debate would create far more awareness of the issue.