Organ futures is the short term used in academic proposals for

futures contracts In finance, a futures contract (sometimes called a futures) is a standardized legal contract to buy or sell something at a predetermined price for delivery at a specified time in the future, between parties not yet known to each other. The asse ...

on organs from human

cadavers A cadaver or corpse is a dead human body that is used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites, determine causes of death, and provide tissue to repair a defect in a living human being. Stu ...

. They are not legal anywhere at this time. Organ futures would be used as an economic means to encourage

organ donation Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or dead with the assent of the next of kin. Donation may be for r ...

by compensating transplant

organ donors Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ (anatomy), organ of their own to be removed and organ transplantation, transplanted to another person, #Legislation and global perspectives, legally, either by consent while the donor ...

. Financial futures contracts are essentially agreements to pay a specified sum at a specified time. The four key academic papers describing proposals for organ futures were published between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.

Proposals

The explanations below focus on donation of cadaveric organs and ignore living donation.

Proposal by Schwindt, Vining 1986

Schwindt & Vining (1986) suggest that the organ donor is paid at the time they agree to enter the life-time futures contract. The agreement is mutually revocable. They propose a single government

broker A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal. Neither role should be confu ...

as the buyer. Organ recipients would pay the supply price plus a load factor to the broker.

Proposal by Hansmann 1989

Hansmann (1989) also suggests payment at the time of contract. Instead of direct payment, he proposes reductions to

health insurance Health insurance or medical insurance (also known as medical aid in South Africa) is a type of insurance that covers the whole or a part of the risk of a person incurring medical expenses. As with other types of insurance, risk is shared among m ...

premiums as indirect incentive. The hospital where the organ donor dies is expected to verify a seller registry and determine the buyer. Buyers may be health insurance providers or specialist traders.

Proposal by Cohen 1989

Cohen (1989) introduces a significant change to previous proposals by making payment conditional on organ extraction. Thus, the donor is not directly compensated during their lifetime. However, the payment is allocated to their estate or a designee. Hospitals are expected to notify buyers and preserve

. They can be made liable for consequences of negligence. Buyers may be public or private organizations.

Proposal by Crespi 1994

Crespi (1994) aims to integrate what he deems the most useful aspects of previous models into his own. Payment would be either guaranteed upon death or dependent on organ extraction. The money would go to the seller's estate; rights would not be assignable, and

creditors A creditor or lender is a party (e.g., person, organization, company, or government) that has a claim on the services of a second party. It is a person or institution to whom money is owed. The first party, in general, has provided some property ...

would not have any claim on it. Hospitals are expected to notify the buyer, preserve the body and be prepared to harvest the organs if required. Any legally competent person can be a buyer and assign their

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical th ...

freely.

Current status

Currently, organ futures are legally unfeasible because most countries follow international guidance that requires financial neutrality from the donor.{{Cite web, url=http://www.declarationofistanbul.org/images/Policy_Documents/2018_Ed_Do/2018_Edition_of_the_Declaration_of_Istanbul_Final.pdf, title=Organ Tourism, Organ Trafficking, news and what you need to know - declarationofistanbul.org, website=www.declarationofistanbul.org, language=en-gb, access-date=2019-08-17

References

Futures markets Organ donation Biomedicine