Kidney Donor Program

New system of kidney donation proposed.
In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal (1/6, A15, subscription required), psychiatrist and kidney transplant recipient Sally Satel, MD, and retired marketing executive Ira Brody propose a system of kidney donation whereby prisoners who are serving at least a five-year sentence may donate kidneys. Recipients would be those patients who are at the top of the transplant waiting list. Prisoners would be given no consideration for parole and would only be compensated in the amount of $40,000 in the form of an annuity for their donation upon completion of their sentences. The annuity funds would come from Medicaid, Medicare, or a private insurer. Satel and Brody claim their proposal would not only save lives, but would also save money, since dialysis costs approximately $72,000 per patient annually, as well as provide some income for prisoners upon release.