Would the rate of organ donation increase if relatives of deceased donors got a tax break? Jurgen De Wispelaere, an ethicist at the Université de Montréal in Québec thinks so. In an article in the Journal of Medical Ethics written with Lindsay Stirton, a law professor at the University of Manchester in England, he argues that a modest financial incentive would mean that fewer donations would be “vetoed” by bereaved family members and that people would be more likely to discuss organ donation with their loved ones.

The change would require redesigning the organ donor registration process to include a second signatory who would receive the tax credit.  “The second consenter becomes a living advocate of the donor after death and also represents the family to medical staff,” De Wispelaere told the Canadian Medical Association Journal. “This would combat a reluctance of the family to accept that the donor really was a donor. It would ensure that they are much more comfortable with [the person becoming an organ donor].” The tax credit would be negated if the second signatory reneged on the donation.

Dr De Wispelaere denied that this was a backdoor to market in organs. “The reason it’s not a market is that there is no competitive pricing. It’s universal and the tax credit will be much, much more modest, than a price on the black market,” he explains. “The tax credit would be the same independent of how many organs are harvested.” ~ Canadian Medical Association Journal, June 9