Organ Donation Arguments

There are a lot of people in this world that are going through organ failure. The National Kidney Foundation even found, “Every fourteen minutes someone is added to the kidney transplant list”. Statistically speaking, that is a great deal of people in need of a vital organ. The author Joanna MacKay talks about the need for organ donations in her article “Organ Sales Will Save Lives”. MacKay disputes her case briefly when stating her thesis in the first paragraph. She gives the audience her opinion on how the selling of organs should be built to become legal. Throughout the text she touches on the black market selling of kidneys. She also incorporates how other third world countries have allowed this practice of organ sales. The article includes her insight on what would happen if organ sales would be legalized and how it would be regulated.

Organ donation has been a controversial topic for decades. This uncertainty stems from one major question; what is death? While medical professions can define death strictly in terms of physiological cessation, individuals may have different beliefs based on their cultural, spiritual, and religious beliefs. These beliefs are often in opposition to organ donation, and they make it seem like the wrong thing to do. However, there is an enormous need for more organ donors because many people die waiting for a transplant. This puts medical professionals, who are trying to save patients’ lives, in a confusing limbo. Whose needs are most important, the potential donor or the recipient? The present code of conduct regarding organ donation does

Dying painfully in a hospital bed is not the way anyone wants to go. Unfortunately for many people, it is a reality. Thousands of people a year end up dying while waiting for an organ that could save their lives. While on the other side of the world, thousands of people die a year, but from infection when an organ is forcefully taken from them to sell on the black market. There are two sides of the organ donation list, and both can end in death. This paper will discuss the shortage of donated organs and the issues with the current donation system. It will also discuss the black market for transplant organs and possible solutions to viable organ shortage. The focus of this paper will be on transplant kidneys as they are the most desirable organ for buyers and sellers.

With the increasing need of organs for medical treatment, illegal organ black markets have become more rampant. Under such circumstances, the public debate over whether the government should legalize the sale of living human organs is fiercer. In Joanna MacKay’s essay Organ Sales Will Save Lives, she states that the government should legalize the sale of organs, since the legalization would benefit both the sellers and the buyers. Moreover, to show the potential benefits for the sellers, MacKay provides and analyzes gains from different aspects that sellers may make if the organ sale were legalized. However, what MacKay has shown is still not the whole picture. By simplifying the problems, MacKay overstates the monetary compensation for the organ sale and underestimates the possible role of exploitation, risks to organ sellers and other ethical questions. As a result, the sellers would not benefit as much as she states, and her argument about the bilateral reciprocal consequences for both organ sellers and buyers after legalization would be incomplete.

The medical industry had been achieving more in the stage of medical advancements, though they are still in the early phase. Artificial organs have been one of those achievements. Although they have achieved such, artificial organs are not perfect. Most doctors as well as patients would prefer to replace a dying organ with a compatible human organ, rather than with an artificial or animal organ. Yet due to a there being less organs donated than recipients, artificial and animal organs are becoming more common in transplants. Most of this issue is because people are unaware of how organ donation works, the organs that can be donated, how many people are in need, and the advancements that have happened in the field. Organ donation saves hundreds of lives every year, but many lives are recklessly lost due to a shortage of organ donors.

However, there are some problems with parts of his argument Kishore assumes superiority of regulation, misrelates mutual benefit to morality and doesn’t successfully solve the problem of equity. To begin, Kishore’s objection that the transnational sale of organs will not occur operates on the assumption that the regulations set in place won’t be subjected to corruption. Governments and hospitals tend to operate as a business, where they look for the most cost efficient resources. This is why so many markets eventually become outsourced to developing countries where people are willing to work at reduced wages. It is within the realm of possibility that the sale of organs might be out sourced for similar reasons. It is beneficial for a country to have more people who are capable of contributing, rather than living off it’s resources. This why it is more difficult to immigrate to a country if you are not capable of working. Countries may not want to diminish their own resources by having organ purchased from their own people who then must suffer the health consequences. This may lead to the outsourcing of organ purchasing in order to receive organs at a reduced price with lower risk to their economy, essentially taking advantage of poor countries. It is tempting to argue that this would not happen because we should value all human life equally, but the reality is out society doesn’t

There is a well-established industry for the buying and selling of organs to those who are in dire need of a transplant, both legally and illegally, in many different countries. The legalization of the sale of organs in the United States would have serious consequences and raises many ethical dilemmas- regardless of religious beliefs. There are several ideas presented in this paper that present the issues that have hindered the progression of the legalization of organs. Currently, there is an organ waiting list of 123,897 patients on the organ recipient list ,the number of transplant that have actually occurred in January - August 2014 are 19,426 (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network). There is no denying that there is a significant gap between the number of transplant surgeries performed and those awaiting a donor. The ever growing need for these lifesaving organs is clear, but to allow human beings to sell parts of their body is not the solution to this complex problem.

90% of Americans support organ donation; however, only 30% know the essential steps to donate organs (National Kidney Foundation). Medical providers view this statistic as a reason to offer a new procedure for donating organs: creating an enterprise of organs. An organ market inspires healthy patients to donate organs by offering money in exchange of organs. If individuals benefit from donating organs, more organs will be donated, resulting in more transplants. However, a business centered around organs is not ethical; donors should provide organs for the well-being of the people, not money. Consider the suffering that those requiring transplants face; they should not additionally agonize about affording treatments. Rather than finding alternate

Every day, 20 people die because they are unable to receive a vital organ transplant that they need to survive. Some of these people are on organ donation lists and some of them are not. The poor and minorities are disproportionately represented among those who do not receive the organs they need. In the United States alone, nearly 116,000 people are on waiting lists for vital organ transplants. Another name is added to this list every 10 minutes. This paper will argue that organ donation should not be optional. Every person who dies, or enters an irreversible vegetative state with little or no brain function, should have his or her organs-more specifically, those among the organs that are suitable for donation-harvested. A single healthy donor who has died can save up to eight lives (American Transplant Foundation).

The first argument of those who oppose payment for living organ donation is that once money is inserted into the issue of organ donation, it possibly creates uncontrollable and unregulated markets in which the poor, who ultimately need money, would be obviously exploited (Delmonico 2004), and in which the human body would become merchandise (Shapiro 20). Opponents point out that the poor are more likely to take any jobs that have a higher risk of death and go against their beliefs in a way they can to get money. Thus, it might be true that they would also be more likely to donate their organs in exchange for payment. Besides, rich individuals are able to abuse that weakness to exploit poor individuals to obtain their organs. However, these claims are highly questionable. When the government bans on the transfer of organs for valuable consideration, the international black markets in organs have been insidiously established and have rapidly developed (Friedman 746). In fact, the practice of those markets defiantly exploits the poor, because most of the organs are usually taken from the poor in indigent Third World countries (Shapiro 20). As an example, kidneys which have come from the poor in some parts of India have been often sold to the wealth in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Gulf States, especially, the United Kingdom and the United States (“Illegal Organ Trafficking Poses A Global Problem”). Generally, it is estimated that each year, there are 200 to 300 organs transferred

People must find the balance between providing organs to those in need at an affordable price and for those selling their organs to receive a fair amount of revenue. If there is enough competition in the market, it will drive down the cost of the organs, which may cause many people to leave the market, as retail of organs is a costly matter with regards to the body. However, those in desperate need of organs will want to purchase the healthiest organ at the lowest price, which places favor on those willing to sell their organs for less. This would cause organ sellers to leave the market. In this case, ethics are very prominent and affect economic behavior. This situation turns the nation of economics away from material opportunity cost and towards the issue of health, life, or even death. (Wilkinson

The worldwide shortage of organs means a price increase in the organs because of the high demand. The consequence to this dilemma is organ trafficking. Organ trafficking occurs in countries predominantly in southeast Asia and parts of the middle east. Organs are distributed illegally through forced donations and donations without getting consent from the donor. The infamous organ black market profits vendors who illegally merchandize. Dr. Debra Budiani-Saberi a professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania and F.L. Delmonico professor of medical science at Harvard, brings light upon the disregard of the donor after coerced donations made in the black market. The medical complications of the coerced organs tend to be baleful and

Every thirty minutes someone gets added to the waiting list for an organ transplant (‘Frequently Asked Questions”). Not only that, but the number of patients being added to the waiting list is growing larger than the number of donors (“Organ Donation Statistics”). Many people are in the need of some kind of organ donation, so anyone who donates can help to save many lives. Organ donation is also such a great way to give back to people. Another thing is that to donate an organ a person does not have to pay money (“Organ Donation FAQ’s”). The only part that costs money is for the funeral if they are a deceased donor (“Organ Donation FAQ’s”).

The legalization of organ sales has been proposed as a solution to two distinct problems. The first is the problem of illegal organ trafficking and the second is the problem of inadequate supplies of organs available for transplants. Gregory (2011) outlined the case for legalizing organ sales by arguing that the current shortage of organs fuels a black market trade that benefits nobody except criminals. He further argues that such a move would add organs to the market, thereby saving the lives of those who would otherwise die without a transplant, while delivering fair value to the person donating the organ. There are a number of problems with the view that legalizing the organ trade is beneficial. Such a move would exacerbate negative health outcomes for the poor, strengthening inequality, but such a move would also violate any reasonable standard of ethics, by inherently placing a price on one's life and health. This paper will expand on these points and make the case that we should not allow people to pay for organs.

In the United States, there are over one hundred thousand people on the waiting list to receive a life-saving organ donation, yet only one out of four will ever receive that precious gift (Statistics & Facts, n.d.). The demand for organ donation has consistently exceeded supply, and the gap between the number of recipients on the waiting list and the number of donors has increased by 110% in the last ten years (O'Reilly, 2009). As a result, some propose radical new ideas to meet these demands, including the selling of human organs. Financial compensation for organs, which is illegal in the United States, is considered repugnant to many. The solution to this ethical dilemma isn’t found in a wallet; there are other alternatives available