USA today recently reported that Organ donors, living and dead, would receive more money for expenses under an initiative being proposed today designed to shorten the wait for transplants.

The National Kidney Foundation, a New-York based non-profit, released a set of recommendations it says could end the wait for a kidney in 10 years.

Currently, 78,209 people are waiting for kidneys in the USA, representing 77% of all those waiting for donated organs.

Organ donation “is a good thing to do, it’s the right thing to do, and no family should be hurt by doing it,” says John Davis, the foundation’s chief executive. “Families fall through the cracks and get bills from hospitals and funeral homes, and they didn’t expect it.”

Of the recommendations, the most controversial may be that organ-procurement organizations cover donation-incurred funeral expenses for families who donate a relative’s organs. Preparing the body for burial can require extra time and expense. In 2007, 22,049 of the 28,360 organ transplants were from deceased donors, according the United Network for Organ Sharing.

Now this is a really good idea.  It addresses two problems.  Firstly the fact that the deceased has been an organ donor suggests the sudden death of an otherwise (usually younger) healthy person in a car smash or something similar.  It is doubtful if any thought had been given to their funeral expenses, before their death given that the people burying them may well have been expected to be buried first!  Help in paying funeral expenses would therefore be very welcome.

The second benefit would be in encouraging people to become donors, or maybe that should be not putting them off becoming donors knowing that if the worst came to the worst, their loved ones would be hit with extra expense just because they had donated organs!

We’ll keep our eye on this one!