Organs for sale?

There is no doubt that we need more organs for transplant. Religious qualms are not significant -- all major faiths allow, indeed support, giving organs for preservation of life. But should people be paid for their organs? The argument against is not quite as simple as the article below suggests -- scandals in India suggest organ sales can be dehumanizing and dangerous. On the other hand, markets work and maybe allowing for sales of organs can increase supply safely.

Pro-life absurdity

Colby Cosh, National Post Published: Friday, January 02, 2009

Jim Young, Reuters

For once, a pro-lifer has it exactly right. Rod Bruinooge, who claims to have been elected the new head of the multi-party Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus -- the group's membership is secret, but no one has come forward to contradict him on the matter -- told the Canadian Press on Tuesday: "In Canada you can't remove your kidney, and put it on eBay and auction it off. That is illegal. Whereas you actually can end a beating heart of an unborn child the second before it's delivered. Most Canadians would agree that is truly a poor bioethical position for our country to be in."

I don't claim to know what most Canadians think about kidney donation; my guess is they don't think about it at all. But the situation Mr. Bruinooge describes really is somewhat anomalous. Of course we should be able to have our kidneys removed and sell them on eBay. It is outrageous that the state claims the power to interfere in such a transaction; ownership of our own bodies is the paramount principle of bioethics. Permitting donors to be compensated for human tissue would encourage sincere efforts to defray the costs incurred by those making gifts of it, and would give dialysis patients dying on waiting lists alternatives to black-market organ purchases in countries less-well-equipped to handle transplant surgeries.

Story here:

http://www.nationalpost.com/story-printer.html?id=94663930-d3ea-47fc-a076-7abd03e1a9ae