The head surgeon, Dr. Michael Phelan, explained that "the ongoing shortage of organs from deceased donors, and the high risk of dying while waiting for a transplant, prompted five donors and recipients to push ahead with the surgery." Several organizations such as the American Kidney Fund are pushing for opt-out organ donation in the United States. Donor Leave Laws
In addition to their sick and annual leave, federal executive agency employees are entitled to 30 days paid leave for organ donation. Thirty-two states (excluding only Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Vermont, and Wyoming) and the District of Columbia also offer paid leave for state employees. Five states (California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Minnesota, and Oregon) require certain private employers to provide paid leave for employees for organ or bone marrow donation, and seven others (Arkansas, Connecticut, Maine, Nebraska, New York, South Carolina, and West Virginia) either require employers to provide unpaid leave, or encourage employers to provide leave, for organ or bone marrow donation.A bill in the US House of Representatives, the Living Donor Protection Act (introduced in 2016, then reintroduced in 2017), would amend the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to provide leave under the act for an organ donor. If successful, this new law would permit "eligible employee" organ donors to receive up to 12 work weeks of leave in a 12-month period. Tax incentives
Nineteen US states and the District of Columbia provide tax incentives for organ donation.
In September 1999, eBay blocked an auction for "one functional human kidney" which had reached a highest bid of $5.7 million. Under United States federal laws, eBay was obligated to dismiss the auction for the selling of human organs which is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $50,000 fine.On June 27, 2008, Indonesian Sulaiman Damanik, 26, pled guilty in a Singapore court for sale of his kidney to CK Tangs executive chair, Mr. Tang Wee Sung, 55, for 150 million rupiah (US$17,000). The Transplant Ethics Committee must approve living donor kidney transplants. Organ trading is banned in Singapore and in many other countries to prevent the exploitation of "poor and socially disadvantaged donors who are unable to make informed choices and suffer potential medical risks." Toni, 27, the other accused, donated a kidney to an Indonesian patient in March, alleging he was the patients adopted son, and was paid 186 million rupiah (US$21,000). Public service announcements
Marketing for organ donation must walk a fine line between stressing the need for organ donation and not being too forceful. If the marketing agent is too forceful, then the target of the message will react defensively to the request. According to psychological reactance theory, a person will perceive their freedom threatened and will react to restore the freedom. According to Ashley Anker, the use of transportation theory has a positive effect on target reactions by marketing attempts. When public service announcements use recipient-focused messages, targets were more transported.