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There is far too much money to be made in the organ transplant business to allow something as trifling as the consent of the harvestees to stand in the way.

As far a I am concerned, the entire transplant industry is continuing criminal enterprise.

The quality of life of recipients is usually quite low, plus they are usually bankrupt from all the hospital bills, plus they can't get health insurance any more, much less jobs.

A liver transplant costs $314,600 the first year, and $21,900 per year every year afterwards.

Financial Matters: Liver Transplant Costs

I don't see where there is a right to a transplant, but that's where socialized medicine will take us, and it will eventually make us all slaves to the health care system.

Gosh, I just knew somebody like you would show up.

Transplants are too expensive? Well, so is saving a child born months too early. Millions sometimes. Many families are either bankrupted by it or you end up helping pay for it. Are you also in favor of letting that child go or doing an abortion? If not, what’s the difference between that and your objections to transplants?

Quality of life is low? You know, most people in comas or vegetative states have an even lower quality of life, and their care also bankrupts families or puts a burden on other folks. So should we just cut off all that expensive equipment or maybe starve them to death? If not, what’s the difference?

Remember that both of the above situations also generate BIG bucks for select people.

The woman who got the pancreas of a dear relative of mine has since had a child, something she couldn’t do before. She could reject the pancreas and die any time now, but she has a child. You would deny her and her husband that? I never heard about the folks who got the kidneys and liver, but can only hope they had similar good results.

Yes but your are forgetting where those costs will also lead US...to innovations and new ideas/technology. The costs will help drive the need for new concepts: one of which is non-embryonic stem cell research. They hope to one day implant new organs via cells rather than need a donor--the high costs (and lack of organs) is one of the driving forces behind that movement.

Stopping medicine in its tracks (as in quitting or as socialized medicine does) b/c of costs is the worst thing that one can do b/c of all the advances that would be lost.

In any field think of all the things we would not have if technology had been stopped/tossed out b/c the initial costs were prohibitive.....