Is an open market on transplant organs the solution to chronic shortage?
Filed under: Health
Opt-out means marketers start with the assumption that you want their crap product unless you specifically tell them you don't. Now a British researcher has proposed making organ donation opt-out; this is, you'd have to tell the hospital you want to keep your organs or they'd automatically be harvested for reuse after your death.
Certainly Dr. John Troyer couldn't expect such a proposal to fly, but it does bring up the growing problem of illegal trade in organs. No longer just an urban legend, the value of a kidney on the black market represents a fortune to the world's deeply impoverished, and an active underground market has developed. According to Reuters, a kidney from Iraq can be had for around $500, while one in Turkey runs $5,000. Black market sales of other body parts such as skin is also a growing ethical and legal problem, complicated by the huge population worldwide waiting in vain for donated organs.
Some have proposed an above-board market be established for the dealing in transplantable organs, to increase availability and stem the black market trade. I suppose that soon thereafter we'd see futures, mutual funds, and derivatives based on the organ market.
Expect the ethical propriety of the aging citizens of wealthy countries buying body parts from the impoverished of developing nations to become a controversial issue as the population bubble reaches retirement age.
My take? I have a great distaste for playing on the need and ignorance of the poor to turn them into organ farms for the wealthy. How would you like to live with a price tag, redeemable on your death, hanging over your head when your neighbors and loved ones are going to bed hungry?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-05-2008 @ 7:42AM
Dave Undis said...
An open market in transplant organs would save thousands of lives every year. As the organ shortage continues to grow, public opinion will eventually support a legal organ market and changes in public policy will follow.
In the mean time, there is an already-legal way to put a big dent in the organ shortage -- allocate donated organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. The United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the national organ allocation system, has the power to make this simple policy change. No legislative approval is required.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren't willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
Americans who want to donate their organs to other registered organ donors don't have to wait for UNOS to act. They can join LifeSharers, a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.
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