title: Incentives and organ donation: what's (really) legal in Canada?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To date, there has been little analysis of the degree to which emerging incentive initiatives are permissible under Canadian law. The purpose of this review is to examine the relevant law - including legislation and case law - in order to clarify the legality of existing proposed incentive schemes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Legislation and case law.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Organ donation is governed by provincial legislation that, in general, bans the exchange of any "benefit" or any form of "valuable consideration" in return for an organ. As such, these laws are tremendously restrictive and could have significant implications for emerging and proposed procurement policy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given the need for innovative, ethically appropriate policies to increase donation rates, we suggest that the time is right to rethink the potentially restrictive nature of Canada's organ donation laws.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Law and School of Public Health, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta, 116 St and 85 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3 Canada ; School of Public Health, 3-300 Edmonton Clinic Health Academy, University of Alberta, 11405 - 87 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9 Canada.
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Caulfield
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Law and School of Public Health, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta, 116 St and 85 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3 Canada.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Law and School of Public Health, Health Law Institute, University of Alberta, 116 St and 85 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3 Canada.
authors.forename: Brice
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goldfeldt
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, 116 St and 85 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3 Canada.
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Klarenbach
keywords: Ethics; Incentives; Legal; Organ donation