Organ Donation Decisions: When Deviating from the Status Quo Heightens Perceived Vulnerability

Marina Motsenok and Tehila Kogut
Additional contact information
Marina Motsenok: Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Sunnybrook Research Institute, Toronto, ON, Canada
Tehila Kogut: School of Education, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel

Medical Decision Making, 2025, vol. 45, issue 7, 862-872

Abstract: Background Research suggests that the method used to determine voluntary consent (i.e., opt-in versus opt-out policies) greatly affects the number of registered organ donors in various countries. Although the concept of organ transplantation is broadly supported, the relatively low percentage of registered donors in opt-in countries is puzzling. We suggest that deviating from the status quo (such as signing an organ donor card in opt-in countries or removing oneself from the list of registered donors in opt-out countries) heightens one’s sense of vulnerability. Design We examined our prediction in 2 online experiments involving participants from the United States (studies 1 and 2), which has an opt-in organ-donation policy, and from the United Kingdom (study 2), a country that has recently changed its policy to opt out. Results In study 1, registered organ donors perceived their vulnerability as greater after being reminded of their decision, but vulnerability perceptions were not affected by such a reminder among nondonors who upheld the status quo. In study 2, imagining oneself making an organ donation decision that deviates from the status quo (signing a commitment under an opt-in policy or removing oneself from the registered donors list under an opt-out policy) increased participants’ perceived personal vulnerability. Conclusions The decision to become an organ donor may affect individuals’ sense of physical vulnerability, depending on their country’s donation policy. Potentially, deviating from the status quo may curtail willingness for organ donation. Understanding the psychological barriers to organ donation may help overcome them by presenting the issue in a manner that takes such perceptions into account. We recommend future research to explore whether this heightened sense of vulnerability potentially deters organ donation in opt-in countries. Highlights The decision to become an organ donor may affect individuals’ sense of physical vulnerability, depending on their country’s donation policy (opt in versus opt out). Registered organ donors perceived their vulnerability as greater after being reminded of their decision, but vulnerability perceptions were not affected by such a reminder among nondonors who upheld the status quo. Imagining oneself making an organ donation decision that deviates from the status quo (signing a commitment under an opt-in policy or removing oneself from the registered donors list under an opt-out policy) increased participants’ perceived personal vulnerability. Future research is needed to examine whether this heightened sense of vulnerability affects actual organ donation decisions.

Keywords: opt-in policy; organ donation; perceived vulnerability; status quo (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0272989X251346213 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:medema:v:45:y:2025:i:7:p:862-872

DOI: 10.1177/0272989X251346213

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Medical Decision Making
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().