Compared with dialysis, a kidney transplant significantly prolongs life and improves quality of life, but kidneys are scarce in large part because federal law prohibits the buying and selling of organs. In “A Gift of Life Deserves Compensation: How to Increase Living Kidney Donation with Realistic Incentives,” author Arthur J. Matas examines the issue and concludes, “Whether concerns were well founded or not, the [National Organ Transplant Act of 1984] was clearly overbroad in its prohibition of the sale of organs. It’s time to loosen those restrictions in order to save lives.”