The Challgenge of Living Organ Donors

The goal of the project “The Challenge of Living Organ Donors to Social and Health Policy,” (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation 2004-2006) is to understand the full meaning of the increased reliance on living organ donors in the US and its policy implications.  The project first, delineated the dimensions and implications of the new reliance on living donors, including the social implications of such gifts and exchanges. Second, it analyzed how transplant teams and transplant societies have responded in policy terms to this change. Third, it moved outside the medical arena to examine the implications of living donation for public policy.

The project is also preparing scholarly articles. Its first article is The Hidden Cost of Organ Sales, American Journal of Transplantation, 6(7); 1524-1529.