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Sale of Human Organs Should be Legalized

Should we legalise the sale of human organs?

All the Yes points:

  1. We already accept the ethic of private healthcare. It is not unreasonable that the seriously ill be …
  2. The donor of an organ, or his family, will stand to benefit considerably from the sale. Even the mos…
  3. Legalisation of the sale of organs will eliminate the corruption that has led to reported executions…
  4. The specific virtues of a scheme of sale of organs is that each transaction remains one of personal …
  5. A legitimate market in human organs would not be inconsistent with either public or private healthca…

All the No points:

We already accept the ethic of private healthcare. It is not unreasonable that the seriously ill be …

Yes because…

We already accept the ethic of private healthcare. It is not unreasonable that the seriously ill be entitled to spend their own money on saving their own lives. It is preferable that some individuals receive organs, and survive, than none at all. There is a spurious equality in everybody dying.The wealthy will not be the sole beneficiaries of a policy of organ purchase. For each successful kidney transplant operation, valuable hours on a dialysis machine will be left vacant. The expense of palliative care for an individual requiring a transplant operation will be eliminated.

No because…

There is no question of a state financed health service being able to afford the prohibitive cost of purchase of organs. It is believed that a single kidney has a black market price of $20,000. Consequently, the sale of organs will condone the most gross discrimination between rich and poor. The opportunity for those unable to afford to purchase to receive a donated organ will be eliminated. Which family, if prepared to donate the organs of a relative, would decide to decline an ex gratia payment of tens of thousands of pounds ?There will not be a two-tier market consisting of sale and donation. The donations will disappear and only the rich will survive.

The donor of an organ, or his family, will stand to benefit considerably from the sale. Even the mos…

Yes because…

The donor of an organ, or his family, will stand to benefit considerably from the sale. Even the most impoverished individual will not choose to donate their heart or lung and thus die. Neither would a surgeon be prepared to conduct such an operation. Yet, both a kidney and a piece of liver can be removed without significant detriment. It is patronising to consider that the individual cannot make a reasoned decision to donate or sell these organs. The family of a relative recently deceased ought also to be able to choose to save the life of another and simultaneously receive some remuneration.

No because…

It is already apparent that the black market flows in one direction ; from the Third World to the First. The relative absence of regulation, and the comparative value of the rewards means that healthy individuals in Asia and Africa are victim to scavenging organ merchants. The financial rewards make the decision to sell an organ one of compulsion rather than consent.Where colonialists raped the land, the neo-colonialist surgeon steals from bodies.

Legalisation of the sale of organs will eliminate the corruption that has led to reported executions…

Yes because…

Legalisation of the sale of organs will eliminate the corruption that has led to reported executions and ‘thefts’ of organs. A successful transplant operation is dependent upon knowledge of certain characteristics of the donor. Therefore the origin of the organ must be known. The black market cannot be regulated, but its purpose would be defeated once the sale of organs became lawful.

No because…

The opportunity for individuals and governments to gain considerable capital for organs sold will lead to appalling human rights violations. Chinese judicial officials are reported to execute prisoners on account of the black market value of their body parts. The lawful sale of organs would legitimise human sacrifice.

The specific virtues of a scheme of sale of organs is that each transaction remains one of personal …

Yes because…

The specific virtues of a scheme of sale of organs is that each transaction remains one of personal consent, and an incentive is provided to donate organs. ‘Presumed consent’ is a euphemism for robbery. The donor card scheme, by which individuals carry a card indicating their intention to donate organs is scarcely a difficult or unknown means of showing true consent. In the wake of the public outrage in early 2001 following the practice at Alder Hay Hospital of removing organs from deceased children without the consent of the parents, it is evident that a system of presumed consent would be unacceptable. The victims of the system would be a family already grieving for the loss of the relative.Any improvements to the efficiency of the donor and transplant arrangement cannot compensate for the simple absence of organs. The sale of organs would increase the number available at home and allow surgeons to search for the parts overseas.

No because…

The sale of organs is a poor solution to a pressing problem. The BMA has proposed a system of ‘presumed consent’. This scheme would allow doctors to assume that the organs of a deceased patient can be used for transplant unless the patient or his family have made a contrary request. Alternatively, the BMA has advocated radical revision of the inefficient system by which patients are matched to donors. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed the development of a website that would link patients, surgeons and donors nationwide. The BMA also envisages the deployment of ‘multi-organ retrieval teams’ led by hospital consultants, in order to ensure that any available organs are not lost from cadaveric donors.

A legitimate market in human organs would not be inconsistent with either public or private healthca…

Yes because…

A legitimate market in human organs would not be inconsistent with either public or private healthcare services. The transplant surgeon, the nursing staff and even the pharmaceutical companies producing the anti-reaction drugs receive payment for each operation performed. Why should the donor of the organs, arguably the most important actor in any transplant, not also receive remuneration ? The United States already tolerates markets for blood, semen, human eggs, and surrogate wombs. Is there a moral difference between a heart or a lung and an ovum ? It is remarkable that a lifesaving treatment should apparently have no financial value.

No because…

The market in body parts that thrives in the United States is neither successful nor to be welcomed. The sale of embryos, eggs and sperm in the United Kingdom is prohibited by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Surrogacy arrangements are not permitted. Blood is collected by voluntary donation. The US regularly suffers the donation of infected blood, given by diseased citizens compelled by the available reward. The paternity and maternity litigation concerning egg and sperm donors, and surrogate mothers is pervasive and persistent. Putting a price on the human body only invites exploitation by the unscrupulous.

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Hannah
3 years ago
Reply to  Dave

Ummm… There are a lot of higher-grade words in these- maybe you could make them more understandable for 6-7th graders?

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