UNOS: Don't solicit for cadaveric donation

A transplant ethicist says the agency missed its chance to limit directed organ donations only to family members.

By Andis Robeznieks, AMNews staff. Dec. 20, 2004.

From simple classified ads declaring "I need a kidney," to sophisticated Web sites suggesting "You only need one," solicitations for organ donations are capturing the public's attention; but the United Network for Organ Sharing is worried that they may also be compromising the public's faith in the organ allocation system.

That's why, at its meeting last month, the UNOS board adopted a position statement opposing efforts to solicit and direct cadaveric organ donations from strangers to specific individuals. The board cited concerns about fairness and subverting a system designed to allocate organs on the basis of need and usefulness.

"We put a lot of stock in the allocation system," said UNOS ethics committee chair Mark D. Fox, MD, PhD. "No, it's not perfect, but it's equitable, and we're all striving to get it right."

The statement noted that UNOS "opposes any attempt by an individual transplant candidate (or his/her representatives) to solicit organ donation from a deceased donor ahead of other waiting candidates in a manner that subverts the established principles and objectives of equitable organ allocations."

It also encouraged people considering public appeals to promote the general need for organs and not to direct a donation to a specific individual.

"Organ allocation isn't a popularity contest," said Dr. Fox, a physician ethicist at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa.

Dr. Fox, an internist and pediatrician, said well-intentioned friends and relatives who solicit on behalf of a patient on the organ waiting list fail to view the big picture.