The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
PLoS One. 2019 Dec 20;14(12):e0226686. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226686. eCollection 2019.
Online crowdfunding platforms such as GoFundMe are used to raise funds for health-related expenses associated with medical conditions such as organ transplantation. By investigating crowdfunding in Canadian organ transplantation, this study aimed to increase understanding of the motivations and outcomes of organ transplantation crowdfunding. Canadian liver and kidney transplantation campaigns posted to GoFundMe between May 30 & 31 2018 were identified and after exclusion, 258 kidney and 171 liver campaigns were included in study. These campaigns were coded for: worthiness of the campaign recipient, requested financial and non-monetary contributions, how monetary donations would be spent, and comments on the Canadian health system, among others. Results suggest Canadian organ donors, transplant candidates, recipients, and their families and caregivers experience significant financial difficulties not addressed by the public health system. Living and medication costs, transportation and relocation expenses, and income loss were the expenses most commonly highlighted by campaigners. Liver campaigns raised nearly half their goal while kidney campaigns received 11.5% of their requested amount. Findings highlight disease burden and the use of crowdfunding as a response to the extraordinary costs associated with organ transplantation. Although crowdfunding reduces some financial burden, it does not do so equitably and raises ethical concerns.
在线众筹平台，如 GoFundMe，被用于为与器官移植等医疗状况相关的健康相关费用筹集资金。本研究通过调查加拿大器官移植中的众筹活动，旨在增进对器官移植众筹的动机和结果的理解。确定了 2018 年 5 月 30 日至 31 日期间在 GoFundMe 上发布的加拿大肝脏和肾脏移植活动，并在排除后，将 258 个肾脏和 171 个肝脏活动纳入研究。这些活动的编码内容包括：活动接受者的价值、请求的财务和非货币贡献、如何使用货币捐款以及对加拿大卫生系统的评论等。研究结果表明，加拿大器官捐献者、移植候选人、接受者以及他们的家人和照顾者经历了重大的财务困难，而这些困难并没有得到公共卫生系统的解决。生活和药物费用、交通和搬迁费用以及收入损失是活动参与者最常强调的费用。肝脏活动的筹款目标接近一半，而肾脏活动仅收到了 11.5%的请求金额。研究结果强调了疾病负担以及众筹作为对器官移植相关高额费用的一种应对措施的使用。虽然众筹减轻了一些财务负担，但它并没有做到公平，并引发了伦理问题。
