Students ‘could pay off debts by selling a kidney’

04/08/2011

An academic has suggested student debt could be cleared by selling off a kidney to desperate patients.

In order to supplement the current shortages of donors in the UK academic Dr Rabbitt Roff has said providing cash incentives to pay off debts, such as those accrued at university, may encourage more donors to come forward.

Dr Roff reasoned: “If the standard payment were equivalent to the average annual income in the UK, currently about £28,000, it would be an incentive across most income levels for those who wanted to do a kind deed and make enough money to, for instance, pay off university loans.”

Currently less than one in three of the population is on the NHS’s organ donation register, while three people die every day waiting for an organ donation.

Dr Rabbitt Roff, a research fellow in medical sociology at Dundee University, made her suggestion in a comment piece published online at BMJ.com.

She added: “We need to extend our thinking beyond opt-in and opt-out to looking at how we can make it possible for those who wish to do so to express their autonomy in the same way as current donors are encouraged to do by making available a healthy kidney for a fee that is not exploitative.”

Those who suffer kidney failure face years on waiting lists as the supply of deceased donor organs has not increased but demand has risen. Currently one in ten donations come from living donors who are usually friends or family.

Dr Roff’s comments aren’t being backed by leading kidney charities.

Professor Neil Turner, Chairman of Kidney Research UK, told The Telegraph: “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.”

But Dr Rabbitt Roff said more kidneys are needed, particularly as diabetes rates increase, and that regulating the market and introducing large payments would increase donations while preventing poor people being exploited.

Tags; Current UK Economy, Budgeting Advice, Debt Management and Banking, Recent Graduate Debt,

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