Why Prohibiting Donor Compensation Can Prevent Plasma Donors from Giving Their Informed Consent to Donate

In recent years, there has been a considerable increase in the degree of philosophical attention devoted to the question of the morality of offering financial compensation in an attempt to increase the medical supply of human body parts and products, such as plasma. This paper will argue not only that donor compensation is ethically acceptable, but that plasma donors should not be prohibited from being offered compensation if they are to give their informed consent to donate. (While this paper will focus on the ethics of compensating plasma donors, its arguments are also applicable to the ethics of offering compensation for other body parts, such as kidneys.) Regulatory regimes that prohibit donor compensation thus unethically prevent the typical donor from being able to give her informed consent to donate.