Latest news: Students could 'sell kidneys to pay debts'

Debt-laden graduates should be allowed to sell a kidney in order to pay off their university debts and improve waiting times on transplant lists, according to an academic. 05/08/2011 

Dr Sue Rabbitt Roff argues that paying live donors to come forward would significantly shorten kidney transplant waiting lists, as three people currently die each day because of the shortage.

‘It’s time to begin to explore how to pilot paid provision of live kidneys in the UK under strict rules of access and equity,’ writes Dr Rabbitt Roff in an opinion column published online for the British Medical Journal.

Dr Rabbitt Roff suggests a payment of £28,000 – roughly equivalent to the average UK annual income – would encourage people to donate.

‘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.
 
‘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,’ she added.