There is a Market for Human Organs, Whether You Like It or Not
The buying and selling of human organs was in the news this weekend, via an investigative report in the New York Times. People tend to be moved when they learn about someone donating an organ to someone else who needs it, but they also tend to be disgusted by the notion of a market where people can sell their organs to strangers. Naturally enough, this market consists of high-income patients and low-income donors.
The NYT profiles an Israeli woman who bought a kidney from a Costa Rican donor, for a total cost of $175,000. A donor gets about $5,500. The rest goes to middlemen and medical staff. It doesn’t sound like a great deal for the donor, does it?
On the other hand, 4,000 people die waiting for kidneys in the U.S. alone. The only country where there is no waiting list for kidneys is the Islamic Republic of Iran, which allows donors to sell organs. Another way to clear the market is the Chinese way, which consists of harvesting them from prisoners — often sentenced on grounds unrecognizable as crimes by Westerners, such as practicing the spiritual discipline of Falun Gong.
China’s harvesting of human organs — from often living victims — is described in horrifying detail by Ethan Guttmann in his new book, The Slaughter. Outlawing a legal market of willing buyers and sellers will always result in a black market which will be exploited by gangsters. We also see this in the U.S. when jurisdictions hike tobacco taxes. The response is an increase in contraband.
A solution is a properly regulated market into which people can sell their organs. It’s best described by Sally Satel, MD.
Whether or not you believe living donors should be able to sell a kidney is a discussion with both good points and bad ones. However, not allowing people to sell their kidneys at death is unconscionable. Why do we bury organs worth thousands of dollars? Probably because stakeholders who benefit from the status quo are afraid of what might happen if people had a transferable property right in their own organs, or the organs of their deceased loved ones.
That sounds like a very reasonable middle ground. It is interesting that we are encouraged to donate organs after we die but cannot sell them. If the organ-donor system had a payment option, which would pay your estate, I wonder how many more people would participate?
Monetizing the human body even in an open market will contribute to a black market. If you don’t think so, think of cigarettes.
People are greedy and will attempt to drive cost down and profits up.
It is disgusting what this Israeli woman did.
But Iran has a successful market for organs.
If it works for Iran, what could go wrong??
I have always held on to the belief that we should have an “opt-out” method for organ donations. Currently, before one passes away, they choose to “opt-in” to become organ donors. However, what if everyone were organ donors once they died, and you had the choice to “opt-out” from donating your organs.
You may have to disregard your moral compass, but it would probably meet the demand.
“It doesn’t sound like a great deal for the donor, does it?”
It depends on the costs to be on dialysis the rest of her life. If she will incur the same cost by being on dialysis for 10 years, and a kidney at the same cost buys her 15 more years of life, it could be a good deal.
That’s the recipient, not the donor! The donor is the one who got paid to surrender his organ.
Whoops! My mistake! I agree, the donors receiving a measly $5500 for a 6 figure procedure is certainly getting the short end of the stick.
I am not sure he is. He was happy with what he was paid. He had few alternatives. I will not judge what people do to earn an income as long as it does not hurt others.
I am completely against a free market for human organs. I don’t to be the guy waking up in a bathtub of ice cubes with my kidneys missing!
That would not be a free market. That would be kidnapping and assault.
John–This is a terribly timely and critical topic, as the organ harvesting in China helps to illustratw how divergent our international ethics are on this topic. Certainly, if we asked Ameridcans about harvesting organs from prisoners, they would be aghast. How can we do business with a government like that?
Any scheme that encourages relatives to do away with their parents or siblings is just not safe; there is no oversight system that will protect against greed and self-interest. That includes donations after death.
Another factor to consider is the cost of all those transplants should organs be available, The average longevity of people after transplant is rather short–can’t remember what, but it is not 20 years, or even 10. Another capacity issue is organ transplant teams–they are adequate for today’s volume, but not for a huge jump in organ supply.
Let’s step back and do a simulation. Why are kidney’s so subject to failure? Age, Sugar, diabetes,drugs, smoking, infections,and injury. In 20 years it is theoretically possible to reduce the level of kidney failure, and so reduce demand for organs.
At any rate, I do not trust the policy-making apparatus of this country to keep us ethical in this tricky area. Insist on the existence of an ethics committee at each transplant hospital.
Wanda Jones
San Francisco
BTY: There was a convention at the Moscone last month at which a brochure about China’s program was distributed. Here are thew prices for prisoner organs: And this is in China. Imagine here!
Cornea: 30,000
Heart: 150,000
Lung: 170,000
Liver: 130,000
Kidney: 62,000
Kidney &
Pancreas 150,000