Organ transplants for money, why shouldn’t they be legal ?
In 2005, a rebellious and sporadically employed Israeli man flew to New York to give up a kidney to save an American businessman. For that, he says he was paid $20,000, which appeared in a brown envelope on his hospital bed after the operation.
That payoff would be illegal.
(…)
Rosen believes he did a good deed and that organ donors like him should be compensated. Much of his story can be confirmed, and the case gives new resonance to claims that a black market for kidneys has thrived even in the United States.
Rosen made a video about his transplant experience, and near the end of it, he is seen reclining on a bed piled with cash. A subtitle says: “This is what $20,000 looks like.” It’s hard to tell the amount, but the $100 face of Ben Franklin is visible on the bills.
Question for the peanut gallery —- why shouldn’t Rosen be permitted to sell his kidney if he wants to ? It’s his body, and if he wants to give his kidney to someone else in exchange for money, it’s really nobody else’s business.
Reason.tv did a great video on the subject of organ markets last year:
H/T: Jason Pye
On the surface, it makes sense. This guy saw a need and filled a void. Supply and Demand…
Problem: say you get into debt, and say the bill collectors tell you that they’ll take your kidney as a down payment… “he-ey it’s legal!” And what about when you still can’t pay and they want your wife’s kidney and/or your kids…
Or maybe you’re poor. Really poor. And you want an education for your child. Should you have to sell your kidney to get that education?
Right now body parts are pretty valuable things.
But so is hospitalization! What about aftercare; how much is included in the transplant process to be “safe”?? If it’s a commodity then it has to be commodified- who pays? Say you sell your kidney for $20,000 and you’re poor or in debt… OOPS, for you: special deal: medical cost to remove your kidney- $19,999. (fine print in the contract! ha-ha)
Or how about a private hospital that runs a good scam and while you’re in there they take out some other bits from inside you that they want to sell or to grow in a petrie dish for further use… “hey! you signed the gobblety-gook contract!!”
Why limit this to just kidneys, how about eyes (you only need one to see with)? How about any other body part you can technically live without? What about those really rare blood people, should they sell their blood or donate it? (I’m thinking the ones with superimmunities) What about you being able to sell your childs blood til he gets old enough to legally protest? (you could tell him it was all to pay for his college tuition. It’s sort of like being a “child star”)
Naaah! i’m thinking the whole “price of body transplant parts” thing’s slippery slope stuff.
I say donate is fine (keeps the altruism gene alive in the species) Paying for body parts has just too many hidden pitfalls.
[...] Why is it illegal to sell organs? [...]
Having been a kidney donor for my sister, I believe that I can weigh in on this question about 2 and a half pounds lighter. When body parts are sold for cold, hard cash the message resonates that only the wealthy are deserving of a kidney, cornea, lung, etc. That’s exactly why selling body parts is illegal right now. The less financially well-to-do are every bit as worthy of receiving a kidney as the person, who is rich and he/she deserves their place in the waiting line. There is a moral issue at stake here.
My sister and I were lucky in that she had three compatible, eligible donors for her. That was the only reason that she was transplanted within 3 months of diagnosis. A fellow that we met needed a kidney too and had 13 siblings. None of them even agreed to be tested. Our friend died. He was not well-to-do, so even if kidneys could be purchased for a dime a dozen back then he still couldn’t afford one anyway.
Back in 1979, transplantation was just getting its footing and the anti-rejection medications lagged far behind in development.
My sister passed away too, but not after she had an additional 4 years and 8 months of life, which was worth far more than $10K. My sister and I did a lot of normal things during that time and became closer in the process. She could eat anything she wanted and drink anything she wanted. She was freed from the bonds of dialysis three times a week. Our Dad taught us to give to each according to his/her needs and no one would ever get cheated. Boy, was he right! In the long run, I wound up receiving so much more than I gave and there wasn’t any price tag that could be placed on it. Organ donation is a gift that has to come from the heart, not from the wallet.
Janie,
What about the argument that permitting donors to be compensated would increase the available supply of kidneys or other organs ?
Charity is all well and good, but to a person waiting on a transplant list it’s the kidney that matters.
And I’m curious, do you believe that men should be allowed to donate sperm for money or that women should be allowed to donate their eggs for money ? We allow that, why not compensation for organ donors ?
The point is moot since we will soon be able to clone replacement organs.
However, if we, as a society, give the green light to harvesting of organs from the living, then we will see the poor and desperate exploited even more than they are now.
I can hear the Republicans now, “You want health care? Then let’s see you sell off a few redundant body parts…”
Well, if your first premise is true, then someone will be paying for the cloned organs, right ?
Why shouldn’t they pay for the real ones too ?