Commemorating Donors

If I understand this story correctly, it seems that over £10,000 is being spent on a stained glass window to commemorate organ donors (£6,800 from the Tayside NHS Board Endowment Fund, plus £3,500 from Revival). It's an interesting question whether this is money well spent, or whether it could be used to fund potentially life-saving (or improving) treatment.

I think a common immediate reaction would be that it's a 'waste' of NHS (and other) money that could have been spent more productively. But, who knows, perhaps such gestures will encourage more people to donate, if only by generating publicity? I'd be interested to know whether any empirical work had been done on such matters. I don't, however, think its justification depends entirely on these instrumental considerations though. Arguably, norms of gratitude and reciprocity may make it appropriate to do something to recognise the gift of donors.

The Gift of Life

I didn't see this is the national news, so it's fortunate that I happened to be visiting relatives, since it was on the front page of the local newspaper on Christmas Eve. A 62 year old woman, Sue Dawson, donated a kidney to an anonymous recipient. It's good to see positive coverage of such acts, to reinforce the message that organ donation can do a lot of good.

That said, I think live donation, at least to a stranger (as here), is more than ought to be expected from anyone. It's what philosophers call supererogatory, which means basically beyond the call of duty. Those like Mrs Dawson who want to do this should rightly be praised for their generosity and the good that they do, but others shouldn't feel bad about not volunteering their live organs.

The issue of posthumous (after death) donation, however, is different. Morally speaking, I'm inclined to think that most people act wrongly by refusing to donate posthumous organs.