Organs for Sale?

Campus Report ^ | September 11, 2009 | Brittany Fortier

[bs9021]

Organs for Sale?

by: Brittany Fortier, September 11, 2009

For those in need of a kidney transplant, it can be a difficult journey to find a willing donor. Circumstances have become so desperate for those waiting for a posthumous kidney that they sometimes resort to advertising their need on billboards and websites. Even worse, some may turn to the black market.

On August 24, 2009, the American Enterprise Institute discussed these issues with Dr. Sally Satel, a resident scholar at AEI and beneficiary of a kidney transplant. Satel argued that the best way to procure more organ donations is to compensate donors.

“I’m far from alone in my interest in this [issue]. Ever since, frankly, the [19]70’s people have been talking about the fact that there are not going to be enough organs [because] every year the list gets longer and longer,” she said.

Her position is not without controversy. In 1984, Congress passed The National Organ Transplant Act, making it illegal to receive money or anything of value in exchange for an organ.

Satel argued that such policies are “not enough” because they focus on the “one prong strategy” of altruism. While she referred to herself as the “poster girl” for someone who benefitted from altruism, Satel cautioned that even altruistic situations can have an element of coercion. One example proffered by Satel is the pressure family members may be under to donate an organ to a fellow family member in need.

“This is a dark side of altruism that no one talks about. In fact, a system that imposes an altruist narrative and policy … is complicit in a lot of emotional coercion,” she said.....

[Sacajaweau]

IMHO...What do you think one of the goals of stem cells is....organ stores....I think it’s why they want the embryonic ones....

[KarlInOhio]

In 1984, Congress passed The National Organ Transplant Act, making it illegal to receive money or anything of value in exchange for an organ.

So everyone along the way, from the hospital, doctor and nurses removing the organ from the donor, to the transport company to the hospital, doctors and nurses attaching the organ to the recipient can make stacks of cash from the transplant. Everyone except for the owner of the organ (or his heirs). Never made any sense to me.

[TheThirdRuffian]

“So everyone along the way, from the hospital, doctor and nurses removing the organ from the donor, to the transport company to the hospital, doctors and nurses attaching the organ to the recipient can make stacks of cash from the transplant. Everyone except for the owner of the organ (or his heirs). Never made any sense to me.”

I agree. I understand the desire to avoid a bidding war by desperate people, but the easy solution is to state that there will be a fixed fee, indexed to inflation for organs donated.

$25k for a kidney, heart, whatever.
$10 for iris.

The market would suddenly be full -— especially kidneys and other organs where living people can make deals.

[tumblindice]

“I have some organs for sale.”
Caster Semenya

[ravingnutter]

No worries...Obama will solve this problem with his health care plan < /extreme sarcasm>

Obama Regulation Czar Advocated Removing People’s Organs Without Explicit Consent