An American Medical Association committee has begun designing a pilot program to test the effects of various approaches to increasing organ donation, including payments for cadaveric organs, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs is convinced that any moral concerns over payment for organs -- which was outlawed by Congress in 1984 -- are outweighed by the needs of the now almost 80,000 patients on waiting lists for transplants, the newspaper said.

The AMA's governing house of delegates, which at its December meeting narrowly tabled study a proposal to study what effect financial incentives would have on organ donations, is expected to take it up again when it meets in June.

Presumably, Congressional action would be required even to conduct the pilot program the AMA is pondering, and it isn't clear at this stage who would run or fund it. The Bush administration also has not taken a position as to whether it would favor or oppose such a move.

Other sources: Wall Street Journal, AMA