Incentives and organ donation: what's (really) legal in Canada?

To date, there has been little analysis of the degree to which emerging incentive initiatives are permissible under Canadian law. The purpose of this review is to examine the relevant law - including legislation and case law - in order to clarify the legality of existing proposed incentive schemes.

Legislation and case law.

Organ donation is governed by provincial legislation that, in general, bans the exchange of any "benefit" or any form of "valuable consideration" in return for an organ. As such, these laws are tremendously restrictive and could have significant implications for emerging and proposed procurement policy.

Given the need for innovative, ethically appropriate policies to increase donation rates, we suggest that the time is right to rethink the potentially restrictive nature of Canada's organ donation laws.