Students Could Repay Debts By Selling Their Kidneys

Thu, 04 Aug 2011

Hard-pressed students in the UK should be allowed to sell their organs to help clear their university debts, according to Dr Sue Rabbitt Roff, an academic at Dundee University.

Dr Roff said kidney donors should be paid £28,000 for their kidneys, and added that paying live donors would encourage more to come forward and help shorten transplant waiting lists.

"If the payment was equivalent to average income in the UK – about £28,000 a year – it would be an incentive for students to do a kind deed and make enough money to pay off university loans," she commented.

"It’s time to begin to explore how to pilot paid provision of live kidneys in the UK."

However, leading kidney charities have warned against the idea, saying it could lead to a black market in body parts.

Professor Neil Turner, chairman of Kidney Research, said: "The decision to become a living organ donor is personal and it should not be motivated, influenced or incentivised by the prospect of financial gain. Such a system would likely be open to abuse."

"The idea that you can sell one of your organs to pay off a substantial debt, such as a student loan, will undoubtedly appeal to some people. However, if money is their only motivation, they may well find that they come to regret their decision at a later date."
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