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why not let people sell their organs?

July 8, 2006 at · Filed under general

beating heart

in this weekend's edition of the new-york times sunday magazine there is an article by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (the guys that wrote Freakonomics). they are writing about the issue of organ transplants and why it makes sense to look beyond the taboo and allow people to sell their organs.

they make the case that this will benefit all of the involved, since today there is a significant backlog of people waiting on a transplant, there are people willing to donate (or rather sell) their organs, but this type of trade is illegal. they also mention that even in Europe where some countries have an "opt-out" policy (where someone needs to specifically say he is not willing to donate his organs in case he dies, otherwise the organs will be used) there is still a shortage.

the obvious argument against letting people sell their organs is that it will create a situation where the poor will be selling their organs to get a bit more cash, and the rich will be able to enjoy it. their answer is that while it is a unfortunate deprive the poor of potential revenues?

i have a problem with just letting people trade organs, because of the rich vs. poor situation. i think a possible solution can be to put a system together where people who pay for a transplant will have to pay double the price, the additional funds to be used to fund a transplant for someone with no means. this will create a system that essentially for every "rich" guy getting a transplant, a "poor" person will get one too. 

there will remain the problem of the poor selling their organs, and sometime maybe doing so in a moment of weakness (either because they were pressured, didn't realize what they are getting themselves into, were in a vulnerable mental state, etc.), but i think the system can try to prevent these cases and overall i agree with the authors that the current system is very problematic

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tsella said,

July 14, 2006 @

i think its wrong to sell organs. period. its trading for life. what i would like to see, is governements making organ donation auto-enrolment (i.e. you have to opt-out of donating) and giving benefits (like tax break) to those who stay within the program.

Monika Jacob said,

November 2, 2006 @

I think its wrong to sell organs because there are many people( poor people) that sell organs and than die because their body does recocnize that it’s gone so why should you be selling your organs and getting the cash but afterwards you die because you don’t have it anymore.

Shaun Lim said,

November 5, 2006 @

Selling organs is about the same as giving your life away. It’s like selling your life to what I think.
You may die too after you give away a kidney, so you are just giving your life away for nothing to benifit yourself.

emeraldboy said,

January 8, 2007 @

people should be allowed to do whatever they want with their own body. who are we to judge and what gives us the right to decide what people can and cant do. people should worry about themselves and stop sticking their noses in other peoples business. once there is an anti abuse regulation system in place if people want to let them.

cars lyrics chasing said,

March 28, 2007 @

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Jermaine Bateman said,

June 14, 2007 @

This one makes sence “One’s first step in wisdom is to kuesstion everything - and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”

rusty shackleford said,

September 3, 2007 @

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sama said,

October 26, 2007 @

God has created his creatures with specific features. If rich need two kidnies to alive ofcours poor has the same right.

sama said,

October 26, 2007 @

God has create his creatures with specific features. If rich need two kidnyes to alive ofcourse poor has the same right.

Zahir said,

February 8, 2008 @

I think organs donation/selling should absolutely be legal. I’m looking into a kidney donation without any monetary compensation, the compensation will be from God, but it is only because I can’t bare the thought someone DYING– anyone— i could die for a kid on the street if I knew I could save him.
The question here is, does one’s opinion give him the right to kill someone else? If my son is dying tomorrow, who has the right to come and tell me I can’t offer someone money to SAVE my baby? If someone wants to do it, poor he may be, but I’m not killing him, I know of many many people who donated their kidneys to people they didnt even know, none died, they ALL recovered, it was tough for them but they got better.
None the less, reitterating the point, NO ONE has the right to impose his/her will/moral principles on others to the point of KILLING them, there is no doubt if it was their loved one dying infont of them they wouldnt be so stubborn. Imagine having a year old beautiful baby, his getting sick and then you’re not being able to save his life, living the rest of your life in pain because someone up there didnt like the idea of saving his life. The poor/needy BENEFIT when this is done right. It is also their decision, people with one kidney mostly live just fine as long as the take care of themselves.

In reference to the point of not lettin the rich get what they want, how can we be so selfish, that if someone is accomplished in his/her life we want others to hold back in helping them? Let them, their families, their children die because of our idiotic insecurities, trying to rationlized their dying by saying its unfair for the poor not to get help? Yes we should do something for the poor and for the rich. Nowadays, you see people who can’t afford treatment and die, so should we just go and kill the one’s who could afford it? Are we that pathetic? Wanting people with more money to suffer just so we can be satisfied? When WE are the ones who couldnt make out’ve ourselves what we wanted? If so then we’re alot worse than animals.

Hypocrisy s*cks said,

April 13, 2008 @

I can’t understand this twisted mentality: why is it right to go to a foreign country and kill women and children for Oil, and is it not right to give someone that is poor the chance of get some needed cash while saving someone’s else life?
See, this is the same logic behind drug trafficking, prostitution, and all the other things the rich and privileged keep illegal while making lots of money with them, with some secret operation.
Then, the rich will come and say: “but G*d doesn’t want people to do that” Well, sorry fellas, G*d is a creation of the rich and powerful, actually there are no Super Ghost G*ds out there… This idea of G*d was something the powerful invented so they can get the poor and forsaken to believe on all what they say, as they threaten the unbeliever with hell.
Anyone that had woke up in any slum or ghetto knows what I am talking about. If there is a hell, it cannot be worse than a Chicago’s or a Miami’s ghetto, or worse than a Rio de Janeiro or Kingston shantytown.
So, let’s take this phantom G*d idea out and use the thing that kept us alive in this planet up to now: common sense.
While the idea of a G*d brought war, disease, exploitation, famine, brother killing brother, brother raping sister, and everything evil this G*d idea brought, the common sense brought us all that kept our species alive: the science, the medicine, the organized state, the philosophy, the economy based on demand and surplus, and everything that is good.
So, let’s use common sense:
Organ selling: Everyone that is under the poverty line should have the right to sell their organs, after a long process of social and psychological analysis PAID by the rich in need of a donor. Also the rich beneficiaries would have to pay an organ tax for life to fund those programs that will help the poor donors, and also the state programs that will help poor people in need of organs.
(usually if poor people get sick with a disease that need organ transplant, they just want to die, because nobody wants to have to live another day on a slum, just getting real here…)
Prostitution: Make it legal, and have the people that use services of a prostitute to pay a heavy tax so the state can provide shelter, medical, and support services for the street workers, when needed.
Illicit Drugs (including Alcohol - BEER!!! - and Tobacco): All Illicit Drugs should be legalized, and their growing and preparation be transfered to regions of poor families that will work on it in cooperatives. All the companies that work with them now, must be submitted to a 50% tax, and if they choose to stay in business, this tax will be reverted to help those communities and also to help programs to give assistance to the users, like social services, medical services, AA, NA and anti-drug use campaigns. All the drug users OVER the poverty line, must pay a heavy tax as well, to fund the same services.
This is common sense applied, I think the only religion we should have must be a common sense religion, all other religions should be heavily taxed to fund programs to save people from Religion addiction…

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