Options for increasing organ donation: the potential role of financial incentives, standardized hospital procedures, and public education to promote family discussion.

Required request laws that mandate hospital personnel to request organ donations have not substantially increased the supply of organs for transplantation. Frustration caused by the continuing shortage of organs has led several experts to promote controversial options for expanding the pool of available organs, including the offer of financial incentives. Pilot programs to test the use of incentives are warranted, but such experiments must be approached cautiously, given the moral qualms they might raise and the availability of other options. One promising strategy is to install standardized hospital procedures to ensure that all potential donors are identified, that every family is approached about the possibility of donation, and that the request is properly structured. The second strategy is to refocus public education to encourage family discussion about organ donation so that the families of those individuals who are disposed to donate will be more likely to grant consent when asked.