The nation"s system for procuring and distributing vital organs for transplant remains deeply troubled, with demand vastly outstripping supply.

The nation’s system for procuring and distributing vital organs is badly broken. Demand vastly outstrips supply. Today, there are over 92,000 people waiting for organs—mostly kidneys–and each day eighteen of them will die before they get one. The wait in many locations is over five years and by 2010, it...

Please note: This event has been canceled. At this event, Sally Satel, M.D., will discuss her new book, When Altruism Isn’t Enough: The Case for Compensating Kidney Donors and the national organ shortage.

Altruism is simply not enough to satisfy the global organ shortage that has spawned illegal and unregulated organ markets, so government-sponsored compensation of healthy of individuals who are willing to give one of their kidneys is the best short-term solution.

To help remedy the organ shortage, the District of Columbia should pass a law enabling donors to receive benefits for their sacrifice.

When Altruism Isn't Enough explores the key ethical, theoretical, and practical concerns of a government-regulated donor compensation program.

Congress must permit donors to accept third-party benefits for saving the life of a stranger, otherwise desperate patients and donors will continue to be reluctant co-conspirators in crime.

The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 should be changed or repealed to allow markets for transplant organs to form.