Not Just Urban Legend

If someone wants to sell an extra kidney for any reason why is this wrong? They do not need 2 to live and it may be that it keeps someone alive and helps someone in extreme poverty in another country. Perhaps if there was a legal way to do this there would not be as much black market activity.

Its people like Tharos that are part of the organ shortage. So what if your family gets zip? Someone else gets a chance of life when you give your organs. I imagine that pretty much the sum total of those who refuse to be organ donators are people like him and the people who want to buried whole. Yes the hospital makes money on organ transplants, but that goes to fund the doctors, and research and equipment that advances medicine for all of us.

Do most people not sign their drivers license to permit organ donation after death? Do a large

quantities of useable organs get "wasted"? The law should be after death your organs are up for

grabs unless you sign saying you want them, not the other way around.. what are you going to do

with them after you're dead anyway?

Do most people not sign their drivers license to permit organ donation after death? Do a large quantities of useable organs get "wasted"? The law should be after death your organs are up for grabs unless you sign saying you want them, not the other way around.. what are you going to do with them after you're dead anyway?

Jeneen Interlandi's report on trafficking in organs for transplantation illustrates the perils engendered by laws against compensation for donation. When people are forced to utilize the black market, price premiums and risk of prosecution attract organized crime cartels to the trade introducing unsavory elements to what should be a legitimate transaction. People have a right to their own body, including the right to sell portions of it. Laws banning this practice can only be justified if one believesthat a person is a vassal of the State with no sovereignty over themselves--a notion antithetical to the founding principles of America. Amesh Adalja, MD

Jeneen Interlandi's report on trafficking in organs for transplantation illustrates the perils engendered by laws against compensation for donation. When people are forced to utilize the black market, price premiums and risk of prosecution attract organized crime cartels to the trade introducing unsavory elements to what should be a legitimate transaction. People have a right to their own body, including the right to sell portions of it. Laws banning this practice can only be justified if one believesthat a person is a vassal of the State with no sovereignty over themselves--a notion antithetical to the founding principles of America.

What is the terrible wrong in organ-selling?

Being robbed of an organ is one thing. Selling an organ by your own choice is another.

These "vulnerable" people being "taken advantage" of made an assessment of their organ's value. Was X number of dollars worth the inconvenience and risk of surgery and of missing a kidney or a portion of liver? They decided that the money was worth it. Who are we to dissagree?

If you still maintain that selling an organ is some terrible thing that a person should never do, ask ourselves what makes these sellers vulnerable? Why are they in such "desperate" situations that they need the money from an organ sale?

The answer is the greed of those living in excess. AKA: practically every person living in a developed nation.

Quit trying to prevent the poor from making decisions that may make their lives significantly better.

If you want to prevent organ sales, try focusing on changing the state of the struggling poor.

Wake-up Jeneen-Do you live in a cave? I think you should focus on legalization and regulation. Would have to believe that this was your intent because after spending so much time on the article you couldn't be that ignorant. Do you know that organ allocation is a level playing field among the "most" sick and in need-do you know that an alcohlic or drug abuser can take priority over someone sick without self-abuse????

Wake up Jenneen-do you live in a cave? As long has not procured illegally/stolen then there should be compensation. Hope your health is good because you just never know. Ethics???-By the way do you know that alcoholics and drug abusers get transplants if they are sick enough and take priority over those with disease non-abuse related?

I'm disappointed that Newsweek ran such a one-sided argument. Nancy Scheper-Hughes' findings from around the world could easily be taken as evidence that monetary compensation for organs, both from the deceased and the living, should be legalized, for much the same reason that all recreational drugs should be legalized: it'll reduce the harm done by having forced the market participants to go underground, where they have no recourse to the legal system. Bring the transactions out into the open, where proper regulation can occur.

I have no problem with organ trafficking as long as the organs aren't stolen. If people want to sell their organs they should be allowed to. If we are truly free people we should be able to do what we want with our own bodies.

Agree with BB1378 entirely. On what rational basis do we prohibit organ commerce? Isn't it just that some, perhaps most, healthy people find the practice distasteful? This should not be the basis for law. What about the interests of those who need an organ desperately? Aren't they a minority whose interests our democracy should protect? If organ commerce were legalized this would remove a lot of the incentive to steal organs, which virtually nobody would argue is justified. A regulatory apparatus would however be needed to prevent abuse.

I know a certain CEO who will pay big bucks for a pancreas

It should be legal and regulated, if I want to trade a kidney for a better life why can't i.

It seems to me that these doctors and hospitals are missing out on an easy way to get organs and save lives. Do the doctors perform the surgeries for free? Is the patient getting the surgery and hospital time for free? Do the medical suppliers give the equipment and supplies for free? Is the patient giving up something in exchange for life? Why do all of these people get some sort of non altruistic compensation for the "gift of life" and the donor has to settle for the getting being in the giving? Seems kind of hypocritical.

As long as demand exceeds supply there will be commercial transactions involving organs. The demand for body parts dates back to the days of Michelangelo and later the resurectionists who supplied bodies for dissection and medical study. As medical techniques for organ transplants improve, there will be increased demand for organs. Until the supply of organs equals the demand, there will be commercial transactions and trafficking. While I laud all suggestions on how to address the current trafficking activities, I opine that we as a nation should be taking a stronger stand on the need to harvest organs whenever and wherever possible. We need laws that require the automatic harvesting of organs at death unless there is a medical or religious reason to the contrary. Our government leaders should be as public in their statements regarding organ donation, blood donor banks and bone marrow registry as they are about their religious beliefs. If Obama and Gupta were to publicly advocate default organ donation laws the rate of organ harvesting could increase dramatically. If there were sufficient organs available, the illegal demand would drop and the profit motive for brokers would dwindle. Until technology can replace failed organs we will need to develop processes to harvest and distribute organs from the total population, not just a small subset. Our government could do much to influence how we dispose of our organs after death. It seems that we as a nation talk the talk of being Christians, but fail miserably to take the step of donating our organs or bodies to science when we die. Only when one has donated blood to a blood bank, signed up with a bone marrow registry and planned to donate organs upon death, does one have the right to claim Christian virtues. For the immediate future we can expect the laws of supply and demand to outweigh any efforts to stop organ trafficking.

No one is saying donor services aren't doing their best. But there are many who do need organs and many would give..but even an actual organ donation due from a death comes with a "cost'...its not like the hospital or all the doctors say "well since your giving organs, we won't bill you and you owe us nothing" do they? I'm not sure where you're at when you think people "don't already distrust" the systems in place. Many do and many will. Look at larry hagman for example..famous, rich and powerful and he got TWO liver transplants...how did that happen or were there no other people needing of livers at the time? don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's alive and well but to this day still wondered how that "fortunate" event happened just for him. I do understand their are strict guidelines that are followed. I know all about the vent machine and meds..my father was on one..still no one is doing all that for FREE..I still got a huge bill that had to paid from his estate even with "the gifts"..not one person has written as if it were a hacky-sak game. but it is a business!! why not allow the people who want to donate and be compensated fairly, barter for what they may want ?but I think you don't give people credit for being smart enough to know its surgery, its painful, you could lose your life, the receiver could lose theirs and if one of my relatives needed that organ....I can't help them. so you are (I feel ) wrong to say people think its a game...there is obviously money it for someone or it would be such a hot topic issue!!

There are no words to express how appauling this article is. I have no proof that the article is false, although no proof other than vague details are given to show any information is true, but there are donor service centers out there that work very hard to help people that need a transplant obtain the organs they need and it's articles like this one that's going to make people think that a non-profit worker is going to sell their loved ones organs instead of truely donating them. Newsweek needs to seriously consider the impact this article may have on thousands of people's lives. All this article does is foster distrust of people that are out there trying to help. This article doesn't even mention those organizations that work under the governments strict policies and watch. And, most donors need to be placed on a vent and continually given medicatoins post mortum to assure that their heart doesn't stop and that the organs are profusing (exchanging) oxygen. You can't just randomly take out a kindney. There are very specific procedures to insure the organs aren't damaged. This artilce makes it look like you can play hacky sack with a kidney and it'll be okay to transplant the next day!