Five years in prison, $50,000 fine

The ban on compensation for human transplants goes back to 1983 legislation, according to the preface of When Altruism Isn't Enough. It was apparently a reaction to a doctor-entrepreneur who planned to bring poor folks to the U.S. for paid kidney donations. Strangely, it didn't really hit home to me before that compensated donation was more than merely frowned on, but is punishable be a stretch in federal prison. If compensated donation will ever occur, Congress will have to act -- if the book makes its case, Congress will be undoing their own damage. They're better at the damaging than the undoing.