Would YOU donate a kidney for $50,000? Compensating living donors could 'help ease severe shortage of organs for transplant'

Would YOU donate a kidney for $50,000? Compensating living donors could 'help ease severe shortage of organs for transplant'

For some, $50,000 may equate to part or all of their annual salary.

But for patients on the kidney transplant waiting list, that sum could mean the difference between life and death.

There are currently more than 100,000 patients in the US awaiting a kidney transplant as they battle end-stage renal disease.

Yet, from 2004 to 2013, more than 63,000 patients died or became too sick for transplantation while awaiting a kidney.

However, University of Florida scientists revealed that for $50,000, the majority of people would be willing to become living kidney donors – thereby saving waiting list patients from dying preventable deaths.

The study authors wrote: ‘Because too many US patients are dying owing to the inadequate kidney supply, and because paying living kidney donors could increase the number of kidneys, we conclude that this option must be seriously considered.’

A survey of voting US citizens was administered by an international polling firm in 2014, according to a study published in the journal JAMA Surgery.

The survey collected data on willingness to donate a kidney – and the potential influenced of a compensation of $50,000 (£34,000).

The firm conducted the survey through a random-digit dialing process of both landlines and mobile phones – reaching a total of 1,011 registered US voters.

Of the respondents, 427 were male and 584 were female – and 43 per cent of the participants were between the ages of 45 and 64.

The poll found that 689 of the participants – 68 per cent – would donate a kidney to anyone.