Placing registered organ donors on a transplant priority list and helping to pay their families' funeral expenses are two radical ideas floated in a new report published.
Both are suggested as ways to encourage organ and tissue donation in a consultation paper launched by independent think-tank the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.
The first proposal would mean offering registered donors a place at the head of the queue should they need a new kidney, heart or other organ.
The second would involve contributing to the funeral expenses of a dead donor's relatives.
A variety of other options, including personal "thank you" letters and certificates, souvenirs such as T-shirts and mugs, "presumed consent" systems and financial incentives are also explored.
The latter could encompass anything from modest expenses payments to the regulated selling of organs, eggs or sperm and a fully-fledged free market.
There is a serious shortage of transplant organs, despite 16.5 million Britons having their names on the organ donor register and last year, around 3,500 transplant operations were carried out in the UK, but 8,000 patients are waiting for an organ.
Sperm and eggs are also in short supply for fertility treatments, with 1,700 requests a year not being met.
The Nuffield Council consultation is aimed at canvassing public opinion about what new approaches might and might not be acceptable.
The public consultation will last until July 13 with a report containing recommendations due in the second half of next year.
