Prisoner organ donation proposal worrisome

The South Carolina legislation is misguided, experts say, but draws needed attention to the nation's dire shortage of available organs.

By Kevin B. O'Reilly, AMNews staff. April 9, 2007.

A South Carolina proposal to shorten prisoners' sentences in exchange for bone marrow or kidney donations is drawing fire from physicians and ethicists. Some doctors say the legislation was well-intentioned, but that it is grossly unethical and probably violates federal law.

While the controversial idea has stalled, it has prompted discussion about the ethical permissibility of compensating donors.

Democratic State Sen. Ralph Anderson proposed two bills: One would release prisoners 60 days early for donating bone marrow; the other would give good-behavior credit of up to 180 days to "any inmate who performs a particularly meritorious or humanitarian act," which Anderson said could include living kidney donation.

Inspired by a guest speaker at his church who noted the shortage of black bone marrow donors -- blacks account for 8% of donors, but represent 12% of the population -- Anderson began to think about how to expand the pool of black donors.

"I prayed over it and I thought about the prison system," said Anderson, an African-American who represents Greenville. "We have enough people in there that I believe, with some encouragement, they will be standing in line to donate."

About 65% of South Carolina's roughly 30,000 inmates are black, and 70% of the 572 patients on the state's kidney waiting list are African-American, according to Donate Life South Carolina. Nationally, 18 people die every day waiting for a transplant.

Physicians and ethicists said the proposal came from the heart but would be tragic if enacted.