View Full Version : What's wrong with selling a kidney?
j4bberw0ck
04-Jun-07, 14:16
From today's Times. If we rely on the free market to supply us with food and other necessities of life, shouldn't we look to a market solution for aspects of health care?
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1878559.ece)
Interesting. Especially about Iran!
From today's Times. If we rely on the free market to supply us with food and other necessities of life, shouldn't we look to a market solution for aspects of health care?
(http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article1878559.ece)
Interesting. Especially about Iran!
dont see any prob so long as it aint mine.. [lol]
I have been pondering this because a friend, who had a successful kidney transplant about twenty years ago, now needs another one (the original has finally failed). She's back on dialysis and on the waiting list again.
There just aren't enough kidneys to meet demand, I know.
In this recent hoax, the kidney donor was said to be terminally ill.
But -supposing it was legal to sell a kidney in this country...the "donor" was fit and well, and sold a kidney, but somewhere down the line, their remaining kidney failed? :confused Given that they had supplied a kidney that would not otherwise have been available, would they/could they expect to receive dialysis and be put on the transplant waiting list?
Ponder, ponder....:confused
dont see any prob so long as it aint mine.. [lol]
And that is where the problem lies.
When body parts become market items they can easily end up as commodities which would require that all of us make available whatever we have. That would quickly lead to people intentionally ruining their health and thus their organs, making them unsuitable for transplant. And in time the market would let you buy freedom from having your organs harvested.
When charity does not supply enough donor organs and they have to be purchased, then there is no doubt that money is the real god in our society.
Recently removed from e-bay for breaking the rules on selling body parts...
"Fully functional kidney for sale. You can choose either kidney. Buyer pays all transplant and medical costs. Of course only one for sale, as I need the other one to live. Serious bids only."
percy toboggan
04-Jun-07, 18:05
Selling kidneys?
I think it's offal.
j4bberw0ck
04-Jun-07, 18:56
But -supposing it was legal to sell a kidney in this country...the "donor" was fit and well, and sold a kidney, but somewhere down the line, their remaining kidney failed? :confused Given that they had supplied a kidney that would not otherwise have been available, would they/could they expect to receive dialysis and be put on the transplant waiting list?
In a free market they'd be able to buy / have bought for them, another. The dilemma isn't about the ethics of selling organs (specifically kidneys); it about the ethics of leaving people on dialysis for years when there's a viable alternative.
That would quickly lead to people intentionally ruining their health and thus their organs, making them unsuitable for transplant. And in time the market would let you buy freedom from having your organs harvested
In the scenario described, sale of a kidney would be entirely by choice, not compulsion.
In a free market they'd be able to buy / have bought for them, another. The dilemma isn't about the ethics of selling organs (specifically kidneys); it about the ethics of leaving people on dialysis for years when there's a viable alternative.
In the scenario described, sale of a kidney would be entirely by choice, not compulsion.
I'm not saying it's necessarily wrong to sell organs.
But.... I'm curious about the practicalities...if a person sells a kidney....and in time to come their remaining kidney fails, but they can't afford to buy another...would there still be a safety net of sorts, i.e. dialysis and a place on a transplant list, for them?
Would the fact that they had provided a kidney for another person, but had taken money for it, count for or against them if they needed treatment?
Or is the scenario you're envisaging one where it wouldn't be the individuals needing kidneys who would pay for them, but the health provider (in our case the NHS)? :confused
I'm wondering where the responsibility for the future health of a paid donor would lie? Imo, choosing to freely donate a kidney (to a close relative, say) and running the risks involved, is very different from benefiting financially from selling a body part -even if it will enhance/prolong another person's life.
Not saying it would be wrong, but there would be potential consequences to consider.
Hi Angela, I think it is not wrong to 'donate' any organ, but to do so, as a healthy, sane, individual requires a huge altruistic streak and probably a strong attachment to the person recieving the organ.
To 'sell' an organ to a stranger, suggests that your requirement for funds overrides your own need to stay healthy, whether to cater for family financially, or for other reasons that can be looked at & addressed.
That any kind of poverty bites that deeply, is a shocking indictment on our society
Who of us would sell our organs if we had anything else left to sell?
Karia
To 'sell' an organ to a stranger, suggests that your requirement for funds overrides your own need to stay healthy, whether to cater for family financially, or for other reasons that can be looked at & addressed.
That any kind of poverty bites that deeply, is a shocking indictment on our society
Who of us would sell our organs if we had anything else left to sell?
Karia
Well no, Karia, not me for one.
I don't blame people for doing it, but it is dreadful that they feel they have to. I imagine they can't think ahead at all to the possible repercusssions.
I can't imagine being in such a desperate situation. But then, I would rather sell a kidney than sell a child, and that happens doesn't it? :(
I suppose the issue raised is not only whether the buying and selling of organs can be in any way justified, but should indeed be seriously considered as normal practice, if lives are saved by it?
I would say no to that.
Selling kidneys?
I think it's offal.
Kidney think of a better pun than that?
dont see any prob so long as it aint mine.. [lol]
That is the point: those that cannot afford it will not get transplants or will sell organs. Those that can afford it will buy organs. How long before people start getting killed to harvest organs?...oh yes, it is already happening ( Chinese prisoners).
Rather than harvesting from live donors would a better solution be for people to sign donor cards or let relatives know of their intention to donate organs if they die?
j4bberw0ck
05-Jun-07, 09:37
I suppose the issue raised is not only whether the buying and selling of organs can be in any way justified, but should indeed be seriously considered as normal practice, if lives are saved by it?
Not so much whether lives can be saved, perhaps, as whether the lives of people on long-term dialysis and treatment for kidney failure can have the quality of their lives improved, and whether the NHS can save the money which would have been spent treating them. The ethical issue is whether it's right to offer to buy a kidney from someone willing to sell it in order to save suffering; or standing it on its head, whether it's right to condemn people to suffer for the sake of a scruple about morality.
It's clear from the article, by the way, that the proposition isn't a private bargain for sale between donor and recipient, but between the Health Provider (NHS) and the donor.
It's also clear it wouldn't work just now for other organs; it so happens that kidneys are easy and as low risk as surgery gets (it says).
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