Organ Sales Save Lives Summary

Every day some dies after waiting years on a transplant list. The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 says that in the United States, the sale of organs is illegal. Some believe this act may be preventing thousands of people from getting the organs that will save their lives. The truth is every day someone dies and their organs could be used to help others and everyday a life of one and the livelihood of another could be saved. The reasons for allowing the sale of organs is very simple to understand. It can help others financially, save money on medical expenses and most importantly, save lives. Critiques believe this would be a mistake causing spur of the moment decisions, and illegal obtain these organs for sale. With the use of regulation, these doubts can be laid to rest. Before the problem can be solved, the problem has to be identified.

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.

MacKay argues that although some argue against organ sales because the poor will be exploited, that whether the organ sales are legalized or not the poor are already being exploited. Poor people do not need harsher penalties against organ sales for protection from this exploitation. They need legalization monitored by government and other organizations in a regulated system to help them make more educated or “informed” decisions. This could be accomplished by adding education into the

It was only a matter of time before a businessman in Virginia saw a way to profit from the success of transplantation. In 1983 H. Barry Jacobs announced the opening of a new exchange through which competent adults could buy and sell organs. His failing was in his decision to use needy immigrants as the source of the organs (Pence 36). As a result Congress, passed the National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) in 1984, which prohibited the sale of human organs and violators would be subjected to fines and imprisonment (“Donation Details”).

“Illegal trade in kidneys has risen to such a level that an estimated 10,000 black market operation involving purchased human organs now take place annually or more than one an hour” (The Guardian, 2012). People that are in the need of an organ and willing to participate in illegal activities will either send a broker or go directly to another country where people are lacking in the knowledge of the situation or have an extreme disability and buy an organ rom that individual. In most cases a broker will promise the seller a great amount of money, but in the end they will only receive a fraction of the money that was promised and for some they receive no money. If a broker cannot buy an organ they will steal one. “However, when the organ, like many other valuables that cannot be bought, it is stolen resulting in flagrant violation of human rights” (U.N.O.D.C, 2000). It is currently illegal to buy or sell human organ in the United States and many other countries. People involved with the operation of human trafficking will be charged with a trafficking offence. “For a trafficking offence to be established must be evidence of an illegal act (recruitment) followed by an illegal means (coercion) for the purpose of exploitation (organ harvesting), one in ten organ transplants are illegal” (U.N.O.D.C, 2000). Illegal sales of organs are increasing the rate of criminal

The debate has raged on for some time now concerning the ethical issues surrounding the trade in human organs. In the US, the sale of human organs for any economical or other benefits is prohibited. However, this law has done little to stop the trade in human organs. There are a number of fundamental issues that the National Organ Transplant Act seems to have ignored. Banning of the trade in human organs has opened up channels that have enabled the black market for human organs to flourish. According to the World Health Organization,

“It is within my power to drastically change his circumstances, but I do not want to give that man a gift if he does not deserve it.” (Smith, 2008) In the movie seven pounds, the actor, made the choice to sacrifice his organs for the good, he felt that he had nothing else to live for, so instead he would give life to someone else who rightfully deserved it. For years, humans have voluntarily donated their organs to caring and loving individuals. They donated freely and without compensation they gave and expected nothing in return. Now, we have individuals who desire to impose upon this freedom, by offering the exchange of organs for money. The selling of organs for monetary value is wrong, it increases the amount of organ trafficking within the black market, it does not create a just weight for those with lower amounts of income, and it is not safe, many people will place their lives at risk all for just a dime.

Every day, numerous people across the world stop their lives for four hours to get hooked up to a dialysis machine at a hospital nearby. This machine helps to remove harmful wastes, toxins, excess salt, and water from their body because unfortunately their body cannot do so for them. These people wait on a list until they can one day receive a kidney transplant because kidney failure has resulted in their body not being able to clean their blood properly. More than 300,000 Americans have kidney failure and use dialysis daily and the statistics are only continuing to grow. I am going to argue that the best to solve this problem is to legalize the regulated sale of organs to better society as a

Schulman first introduce readers to the fact that 17 people die each day in United States due to organ shortage, which is staggering and alarming at the same time. The lack of organ donors has raised discussion about legalizing organ sales as a solution to increase the number of donors. Many ethicists, however, are opposed to the idea because they worry that putting a price tag on a human body part will “corrupt the very meaning of human dignity” (447). Yet, it is no longer a secret that the black market has already put a value on human dignity, which caused more damage,

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.

Selling organs is a rising problem in the healthcare community, government and morality. Organ sales has become the topic of discussion for numerous reasons. Some of which being lowering the wait time on the organ transplant waitlist and taking advantage of the financially disadvantaged. This issue affects many people on many different levels, some people morally or legally but mostly importantly medically. What this basically comes down to is: “Who are we to judge what people do with their bodies?”. The answer to this question lays in many different sources. The simplified answer is no we can not tell people what they can and can not tell other people what they can and can ot do with their bodies.

An organ market will lead to exploitation and unfair advantages for the rich and powerful. It will creates injustice between the rich and the poor as the rich will get organs because of their money but to those who is less fortunate people will not be able to have access to these resources. Vulnerable people such as kids, less educated people, or people from third world countries will get exploited and harvested their organs for richer people. When organs are freely tradable, many extremely poor people, especially those who are struggling to survive, will be forced to sell parts of their bodies. Poverty and corruption are underlying themes behind seller giving up their organs as most donors see it as the only option to make money. For most

Let image and put your self in a situation that you have a serious disease and your life depends on getting an organ such as kidney or liver, I ensure that you are willing to pay for one if you afford to do it. According to David Holcberg, “and if you could find a willing seller, should not you have the right to buy it from him or her”. In some extend, it is similar to a business or a contract, a person offer to buy something and someone can accept it, certainly both side have intention to do it. Everybody has the right to live and if they are not allowed to buy cure for their sickness, their right is forbidden, isn’t it? Desires to live is the nature of human being, in any circumstances, they still try to live. However when they are waiting for an organ for a long time and this demand is not satisfied so their only hope now is buying from other person and it seems to be too ruthless to forbid them to have the right to make a “contract” to buy a kidney or liver. As the result, if the market for human organs is legalized countless people would be saved and many individuals could have a better life. However, many people argue that it should not be done due to some ethical and social matters.

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