Are the majority of Americans in favor of compensating kidney donors?

Yes! Most Americans favor compensation for living kidney donors to increase donation rates.

Check out these four surveys:

  • 2006 - American Journal of Transplantation: Public Attitudes Toward Incentives for Organ Donation: A National Study of Different Racial/Ethnic and Income Groups

  • 2012 - Reuters Poll: Americans Show Support For Compensation Of Organ Donors

  • 2016 - JAMA Surgery: Most US Voters Approve of Paying Kidney Donors, Survey Finds

  • 2019  - Johns Hopkins Study Most Americans favor compensation for kidney donors if it leads to more saved lives

Which two surveys demonstrate the support for kidney donor compensation from the medical doctor members of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and the American Society of Transplantation?

1. Rodrigue JR, Crist K, Roberts JP, Freeman RB Jr, Merion RM, Reed AI. Stimulus for organ donation: a survey of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons membership. Am J Transplant. 2009 Sep;9(9):2172-6.doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2009.02741.x. Epub 2009 Jul 16. PMID: 19624568. 2014: Joint meeting of the ASTS and AST devoted to this topic,participants concluded “there is ‘no a priori reason not to work … toward a plan for pilot projects in offering incentives”. (Salomon D, et al,  AJT 2015) “We believe it important not to conflate the illegal market for organs, which we reject in the strongest possible terms, with the potential in the United States for concerted action to remove all remaining financial disincentives for donors and critically consider testing the impact and acceptability of incentives to increase organ availability in the United States.”

“Overall, there is strong support within the ASTS membership for changes to NOTA that would permit the implementation and careful evaluation of indirect, government-regulated strategies to increase organ donation.”

2. Salomon DR, Langnas AN, Reed AI, Bloom RD, Magee JC, Gaston RS; AST/ASTS Incentives Workshop Group (IWG). AST/ASTS workshop on increasing organ donation in the United States: from removing disincentives to testing incentives. Am J Transplant. 2015 May;15(5):1173-9. Doi: 10.1111/ajt.13233. Epub 2015 Mar 31. PMID: 25833653.