doi: 10.1111/j.1600-6143.2005.01106.x Do Incentives Matter? Providing Benefits to Families

Whether the number of organs available for transplant would be positively or negatively affected by provid-ing benefits to families of organ donors has been de-bated by policymakers, ethicists and the transplant community at large. We designed a telephone survey to measure public opinion regarding the use of bene-fits in general and of five types in particular: funeral benefits, charitable contributions, travel/lodging ex-penses, direct payments and medical expenses. Of the 971 adults who completed the survey (response rate = 69%), all were from Pennsylvania households, 45.6% were registered organ donors, and 51.7 % were non-white. Although 59 % of respondents favored the gen-eral idea of incentives, support for specific incentives ranged from 53 % (direct payment) to 84 % (medical ex-penses). Among those registered as donors, more non-whites than whites supported funeral benefits (88% vs. 81%; p = 0.038), direct payment (63 % vs. 41%; p < 0.001) and medical expenses (92 % vs. 84%; p = 0.013). Among those not registered as donors, more nonwhites supported direct payment (64 % vs. 46%; p = 0.001). Most respondents believed that benefits would not influence their own behavior concerning donation but would influence the behavior of others. While benefits appear to be favored, their true impact can only be assessed through pilot programs. Key words: Benefit programs, financial incentives, organ donatio