Patsavas ’16, Tia

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Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUNews and Events University Communications2015Student’s Research to be Part of National EthicsSymposiumTia Patsavas ’16Illinois Wesleyan UniversityThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Recommended CitationPatsavas ’16, Tia, "Student’s Research to be Part of National Ethics Symposium" (2015). News and Events. Paper 2710.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/news/2710Student’s Research to be Part of National Ethics Symposium  Truesdale Studied Implications of Incentivizing Organ Donation March 19, 2015    BLOOMINGTON, Ill.— As a result of his analysis of incentivizing organ donations,  Illinois Wesleyan economics and political science double major Daniel Truesdale ’15  (Tinley Park, Illinois) has been selected to participate in a national ethics symposium  April 9-11 at DePauw University.  “I became interested in organ donation after interning at the [conservative think  tank] American Enterprise Institute (AEI) my junior year in Washington, D.C.,” said  Truesdale, who interned at AEI through IWU’s affiliation with the Washington  Semester program at American University. “At AEI I came across, When Altruism Isn't  Enough (AEI Press, 2009), and was moved by the positive and normative aspects of  the work. Though it focused on living organ donation, I began to wonder if  incentivizing cadaver donation could be a middle ground for those opposed and in  favor of a monetary system.”  In the fall of 2014, Truesdale conducted his senior project in economics on a potential  strategy to increase cadaver organ donations among Illinois drivers. Titled “Incentivizing Cadaver Organ Donors,” his study  focused on ways to increase the number of individuals declaring themselves candidates for organ donations at the time that  they renew their driver’s licenses. After he administered a series of surveys and notional experiments, Truesdale’s study  concluded that a small incentive such as waiving the fee for driver license renewalcould have a significant impact increasing  the number of cadaver organs among students at Illinois Wesleyan and Bloomington-Normal residents.  Truesdale decided to take his research a step further during his Advanced Research Seminar class this spring semester.  Exploring connections between his data-driven research and the ethical implications of incentivizing organ donor  candidates, Truesdale wrote a proposal to participate in the 2015 Undergraduate Ethics Symposium.  “First and foremost, I hope my research brings attention to the organ shortage in the United States and across the globe,”  Truesdale said. “If we were to entice individuals to become organ donors by use of monetary incentive, we could save lives.”  According to data reported by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), someone is added to the  national transplant waiting list every ten minutes, and approximately 21 people die each day waiting for a transplant. One  organ donor can save eight lives. According to OPTN, the gap between supply and demand continues to widen despite  advances in medicine and technology, and an increase in awareness of organ donation and transplantation.  Truesdale has recognized the obstacles that come with incentivizing donations, including concerns with coercion and  exploitation, both of which he addresses in the project.  “There are those against this approach because they believe it undermines human dignity and all donation should be  altruistic,” he said. “I acknowledge altruism is a beautiful feature of the human spirit, but it should not bind us from utilizing additional measures if it can not produce a desired outcome.”  Truesdale will address these issues and more at the symposium. With the theme of “Value and Virtual Spaces,” the  symposium is shaped around a series of workshops in which students present their best work on a subject of ethical concern.  The selective honors symposium accepts a group of 25 to 30 submissions, and participants engage in a series of workshops  and small-group seminars.  By Tia Patsavas ’16    Daniel Truesdale  

Student’s Research to be Part of National Ethics Symposium

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Student’s Research to be Part of National Ethics Symposium

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