NHS could pay organ donors’ funeral expenses

Organ donors’ funeral expenses should be paid by the NHS to boost the number of organs available for transplant, a report suggests. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics states that alternative incentives must be investigated to increase donations, but rejects the notion of an ‘opt-out’ system.

Professor Dame  Marilyn Strathern, who headed the  18-month investigation into the scheme, said: “Government initiatives to improve the health of the population are crucial to reducing the number of people in need of organs in the UK, but we must also take reasonable steps towards increasing the number of potential donors.”

“The possibility of sparing relatives the financial burden of a funeral might encourage more people to register as donors. Paying for the funerals of organ donors would be ethically justified – no harm can come to the donor, and it would be a form of recognition from society. We think a pilot scheme to test the public response to the idea is worth trying, alongside other schemes.”

Under their proposals funeral expenses would only be paid if someone on the organ donor register died in circumstances where their tissues could be used in research or for transplant.

Chairman of the BMA’s Medical Ethics Committee, Dr Tony Calland, said: “The Nuffield Council has put forward an interesting idea to increase donor rates and the BMA will consider it carefully. While the Association has generally opposed incentives for organ donation, we have not specifically considered the offer to pay for the funeral expenses for individuals who donate their organs.

“Every year people die because a donor cannot be found to allow their transplant to go ahead. Despite the progress that the Organ Donation Taskforce is making towards its target to increase donor rates by 50% by 2013, the BMA believes that more needs to be done. Therefore it is encouraging that organisations like the Nuffield Council are looking at different ways to increase donor rates.

”The BMA still believes that one of the best ways to increase organ donation is to move to an opt-out system with safeguards and we will continue to lobby for this.”