The IMA categorically opposes granting financial consideration for donations from a live donor. We believe that granting such consideration harbors the potential to create enormous social entanglement and that there is no reason to enable this to happen. Furthermore, we maintain that granting financial consideration in exchange for a live donation paves the way for actual organ trading and it is impossible in practice to prohibit organ trading and brokerage when financial consideration for live organ donation is permitted.

We are shocked to hear of women and minors (as well as men) who sell their body in exchange for money. An enlightened society cannot allow such a phenomenon to expand. We claim that the sale of organs for financial consideration is dangerous and as a society we should not permit it under any circumstances.

Furthermore, we support granting compensation or consideration to the donor’s family, but are opposed to granting consideration in the form of financial payment because this may exert considerable pressure on families whose economic situation is fragile. We believe that the fact that a family earns minimum wages or lower will exert pressure on it to donate the organs of its loved ones for transplant purposes. A Jewish and democratic society cannot ignore the fact that organ donations must be based on an altruistic desire to give, during the greatest of crises, in order to save the lives of others.

Consideration or compensation other than monetary consideration can be granted to a family in other forms and this issue will be addressed below.

The position of the Israel Medical Association with respect to various clauses of the draft law are specified below: