By connecting this information to certain compensatory incentives, those who make up a likely donor population may be more likely to retain and return to the information provided. Though controversial, this does present a realistic view on the motives that might incline one toward an act with significant personal and health-related implications. It is important for public health facilities to consider the courtship of donations in this way, primarily because a failure to do so is increasingly stimulating an extra-curricular market for the sale of kidneys. In other words, by neglecting to consider the option of connecting kidney donation courtship to such compensatory incentives, the medical community is not protecting against the ethical concerns correlated thereto. They are simply forcing would-be recipients to look outside of the field for options that might keep them alive. The research provided by MNT indicates as much, and simultaneously illuminates a non-traditional approach to organ-donation courtship that should be exploited. According to its research, "if one accepts that, as the waiting list grows, more and more patients will consider the public solicitation of living donors via websites like the one we reviewed, it is imperative that the transplant community begin to ask - and answer - some key questions, says James R. Rodrigue, co-author of the study." (MNT, 1)

Quite to the point, the medical community must in a sense find a way to compete with the relative efficiency of this system, especially because potential kidney donors are scarce in supply to begin with. The tendency of users to exit the health system and become donors on independent terms threatens only to further undermine the effectiveness of the already critically ineffective 'waiting list' structure. Therefore, the internet should be viewed as a way to pair donors and recipients, but...

In other words, such informational websites should be used to court donors by offering information on 'waiting list' cases within their facilities.
Additionally, it is important to use avenues of public information such as the internet and television in order to distribute information concerning the perceptions of kidney donation with respect to its consequences. A study by Aghanwa et al. (2003) finds that "programs aimed at increasing awareness about the safety of kidney donation, reducing adverse beliefs about kidney donation, and encouraging altruistic tendencies will increase the availability of kidney donors." (Aghanwa, 725) By connecting a reduction of fears to the capacity of healthy individuals to help those in need, avenues such as those explored here throughout may be ultimately more effective in reaching those with the personality characteristics that make them likely donors.

Ultimately, the methods discussed here will not reduce the controversy or apprehension over the subject. But evidence does tend to suggest that they would improve the ability of the healthcare system to meet the needs of greater numbers of transplant candidates.

Works Cited:

Aghanwa, H.S.; Akinsola, A.; Akinola, D.O. & Makanjuola, R.O.A. (2003). Attitudes Toward Kidney Donation. J Natl Med Assoc., 95(8), 725-731.

Kranenburg, L.; Schram, A.; Zuidema, W.; Weimar, W.; Hilhorst, M.; Hessing, J. & Busschbach, J. (2008). Public Survey of Financial Incentives for Kidney Donation. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 23(3), 1039-1042.

Medical News Today (MNT). (2008). Kidney Donation Websites Raise Ethical Concerns - Public Solicitation For Organs May Favor White, Educated And Wealthy Recipients. Wiley Blackwell Publishing. Online at http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/125649.php