Many people who are happy to donate an organ to save the life of another are concerned about the possibility that it will affect their life insurance premiums, it has been claimed.
A specialist study conducted at the London Health Sciences Centre, Ontario, and published in the American Journal of Transplantation, revealed that between three and 11 per cent of donors encountered problems with their life insurance provider.
This is despite the fact that the insurers surveyed as part of the study claimed that they would not usually hike up life insurance premiums for living kidney donors.
Review author Robert Yang, a research fellow in the Kidney Clinical Research Unit of the centre, commented: "Even if donors are willing to accept the risks of non-insurability and/or higher insurance premiums, transplant professionals still have an ethical obligation ... [to ensure] that donors do not suffer unnecessary stress or financial penalty."
In the UK, more than 9,000 individuals currently require an organ donation that would drastically improve or even save their lives, according to the NHS.




