A Generous Gift or Financial Incentive?

should organ donors be paid in full? A current study finds that organs from paid donors cost less than other alternatives. And could improve patient outcomes. But it does not address moral concerns or the potential for abuse of the system.Because of the National Organ Transplant Act, more Americans have lost their lives waiting for an organ. The law bans almost any non-medical payment to living organ donors. Whether by the government, health insurance companies, or charities. Recipients themselves can refund donors’ travel, residence, and lost wages, which helps but only when the beneficiaries have the means and will to do so. Also, they should not take a deceased person organs. What if they were poor and their family needs money. However,

Organ transplantation is a surgical procedure to replace a failing, diseased organ with a healthier donor organ, such as a heart, liver, kidney, or lung (Organ transplant, 2015). As seen in figure 1. The organs could have failed because of an illness or injury and is replaced with either a living donor or deceased donor it depends on what is needed. The organs that can be successfully transplanted are the

As NBC13.com news points out “everyday seventeen people die waiting for organ transplants.” These deaths could simply be prevented by having a system in place that could provide a service to these helpless individuals. According to this site, there are 120,000 people still waiting for organs, nationwide; 30,000 of them are African Americans. But when it comes down to the issue of free trade of human organs, the majority of American citizens will consider it a controversial and ethical issue. There could be a large group of people supporting each side of this argument. However, only those who want to sell their organs and those who need the

The supporters of the pro side of this debate (or the side that is in favor of the legalization of organ sales) believe that the amount of willing donors would increase astronomically if they were to be offered a “reimbursement” for their donation (I Gave Away a Kidney; would You Sell One). Because the sale of organs and other human matter has been successful in others parts of the world, in several countries including Iran, advocates for legalization believe that success would be inevitable in the United States as well. Hashem Ghasemi, the head of the patient-run Dialysis and Transplant Patients Association of Iran, encourages the U.S. to pursue organ sales. He says in his country, the transplant list has almost completely disappeared, as

Unfortunately, despite these wonderful advances, people who need an organ often have an incredibly difficult time getting one, and only have word of doctors that they will even get on at all. Part of the problem is all of the restrictions placed on donations to make them ethical make it very easy for America’s more criminally minded citizens to make a profit on human tissue (Carney). The system of donating blood, organs, and bones anonymously is not perfect. There is still a desperate need for these commodities, and even though people cannot pay for their donated tissue, they do still pay in the long run. After all, medical services are by no means free, or even cheap. In

In the United States, there are currently 116,608 people in need of a lifesaving organ transplant, and 75,684 people that are currently active waiting list candidates (HRSA, 2017). Between January and September 2017, there have only been 12,211 organ donors (HRSA, 2017) which is far less that the current demand for lifesaving organs. The shortage of donors could lead to an individual looking for outside sources such as the black market to find their lifesaving organ. Offering incentives to persons who chose to donate their organs or those of a deceased loved one is important because it could stop the illegal selling of organs, save the life of someone in need of an organ transplant and benefit both the donor and recipient.

The ethical issue for the majority of people in the U.S. does not seem to be whether donating organs should be allowed, but instead should someone be compensated for their donation. As described earlier, the U.S. has a major shortage of organs and an even greater shortage is found in some areas of the world. However, countries like Iran have found a way to eliminate their shortage completely. “Iran adopted a system of paying kidney donors in 1988 and within 11 years it became the only country in the world to clear its waiting list for transplants.” (Economist, 2011) Although this sounds promising, it is important to look at the effects on the organ donor. In a study done on Iranian donors who sold their kidneys, it was found that many donors were negatively affected emotionally and physically after donating and that given the chance most would never donate again nor would they advise anyone else to do so. (Zargooshi, 2001) Additionally, many claimed to be worse off financially after donating due to an inability to work. (Goyal, 2002) To some, this last set of findings would be enough to supersede the benefit of clearing the organ waiting lists.

single kidney may cost up to $60,000. Meaning if people are really desperate for money they could sell their organs. So this would convince many people that are in need of money. However, there will be more problems if there is a legalization of organ selling. There could be an increase of murder just because people want to sell organs on the black market. One example of organ trafficking dates back to 7 years ago, in July 2009 a person named levy Izhak was arrested for buying organs from weak people in Israel for $10,000 and later selling them to people that really need them for $100,000 in the U.S. This will cause many people to oppose the sales of organ and would make some people donating organs think twice before doing it because they might feel scared that one day they might need it and would have to pay a large amount of money to get what they have given before. Some people think that this idea is bad because organs should not be given in exchange for money because you are saving someone’s life. One thing that really concerns me is that why does money have to

    Today, medical operations save lives around the world, a feat that surely would surprise our ancestors. Many operations replace defective organs with new ones; for new organs to be ready to be implanted there need to be organ donors. We are not so advanced a society that we can grow replacement organs. Thousands of organ donors in the United States every year are seen as doing the most noble of deeds in modern civilization, and most of the time death has to occur before the organ can be used. Now, though, some are suggesting that organ donors—or their beneficiaries—should be paid for their donations. This should not happen, as it creates a strain on the already tight national budget, forces

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

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.

Not only does reimbursement for organ donation dismantle moral beliefs, but it also takes advantage of the poor. Instead of benefitting the well-being and health of patients, compensation only benefits the government, donors and wealthy patients. In reality, “Prices keep going up and it’s becoming harder for patients because they can’t afford it...The people who are making a lot of money are the investors and the corporations” (Lopez, 2015, p. 3). As the prices for organ transplantation continues to increase, patients are forced to pay more for dialysis while waiting for an organ. If compensation were to begin, patients would also begin to bear new expenses to assist the reimbursement of donors. Ogilvie (2011) believes that, “Despite the good

The article that will be examined is “Vera 's Kidney, Walter 's Money: Desperation, Greed and the Global Organ Trade” (Ginzel, Kraushaar, Winter, 2012). In this article, it features a wealthy 74-year-old man who only had months to live with his failing kidneys. It also features a single mother in Istanbul, who needed money to fly her daughter over but simply could not afford it. Putting the law aside, the old man was willing to pay $10,000 dollars for her kidney. Another article that was found stated, “Studying organ sales: short term profits, long term suffering” (Kahn, 2002) interviewed 350 people who recently sold their organs. “The vast majority reported selling a kidney to pay off debts, but nearly 75 percent said they were still in debt six years later” (Kahn, 2002). Even though organ sales are still illegal here in the U.S, many people are becoming so desperate that they do not mind putting the law aside in spite of saving their own lives. The criteria that constitutes being desperate relating to the legalization of organ sale

This would not only reduce the amount of deaths each year of individuals who are on the waiting list for an organ transplant, it would also increase the amount of donors who would be willing to under such a invasive surgery because they will be compensated for their generosity. The most common way that a patient on the organ transplant list receives their organ is from a deceased individual who has agreed to donating their organs before their death, or the family or spouse has agreed to donate the organs of the deceased individual on their behalf. These facts are convincing and has the reader pondering the thought “why do donors not receive compensation?” There are many individuals who believe that there should continue to be absolutely no compensation to individuals who are willing to donate an organ. The topic of exploiting the poor who would justify selling one if not two organs in order to be compensated because they are struggling financially is an argument that is discussed time and time again. This dilemma has resulted in what is known as the black market sale of organs, donors and patients are what make up the black market. You have a vendor who could be a surgeon, or a small company in another country who offers the organ transplants in usually half of the

Secondly, the donor would be the only person not benefiting from the donation, so it only seems morally right to give back. The hospital staff are getting paid for their work and the individual receiving the organ may not be getting paid with money, but instead are receiving a very special gift. Third, the increase of organ donations due to a money incentive could potentially make donations safer by driving the Black Market to extinction. The Black Market would no longer be needed if more people are being taken off the wait list because of the increased influx of organ donations.