Today the National Kidney Registry (NKR) announced the addition of an important new 7th Donor Shield protection. Donors can now be reimbursed for lost wages and travel/lodging costs for any donation-related complications as part of the Donor Shield program.
The other six Donor Shield protections include lost wage reimbursement for donation, travel & lodging reimbursement for donation, donation life insurance, donation disability insurance, legal support and financial coverage for uncovered complications. Donor Shield is automatically provided for all donors that participate in an NKR swap or the NKR Voucher Program, and all donors that donate at Donor Shield Direct programs.
Garet Hil, Founder of the National Kidney Registry and a kidney donor himself, commented, “Donating a kidney is a significant act of courage and generosity—we need to do everything possible to minimize the risk to living donors. Although post-surgery complications are very rare, some complications require travel for medical care and some require time off work. This 7th Donor Shield protection will support those donors that require travel and/or time off work to address post-surgery complications.”
“The Donor Shield program is greatly appreciated by donors and eliminates reported disincentives to living donation,” said Dr. Cooper, Director of the MedStar Georgetown Kidney Transplant Program. “Our center has been providing Donor Shield to all of our living donors for over a year and it has been enthusiastically received by both donors and transplant patients,” Dr. Cooper added.
About Donor Shield
Donor Shield (www.donor-shield.org) is the only comprehensive program in the United States protecting living kidney donors. Donor Shield is backed by the National Kidney Registry which is the largest paired exchange program in the world. All donors that participate in a National Kidney Registry swap, the NKR Voucher Program or donate at a Direct Donor Shield center will automatically receive the Donor Shield protections.
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