Ethical View of Organ Trading

Is Organ Trade Ethically Justifiable?

By Alexandra Perez-Pla and Marco Meusburger

Class: Ethics in Business

Professor: Matthias Huehn

Table of Content

Table of Content pg. 1

1. Introduction pg. 2

2. The Problem

Sales of Organs with Deception and Coercion pg. 3

Impact on Sellers and Their Ethical Problems pg. 4

3. Discussion

Should Organ Trade be Legalized? pg. 8

4. Conclusion pg. 11

5. Bibliography pg. 13

Introduction

Organ transplants began about one half-century ago with a kidney transplant performed at Brigham & Women’s hospital in Boston. But the market only began to take off with the development in the 1970’s of immunosuppressive drugs that could prevent the rejection of transplanted organs. Since then, the number of kidney, liver, heart, and other organ transplants has grown rapidly, but not nearly as rapidly as the growth in the number of persons with defective organs that desire transplants. The result has been the development of longer and longer queues to receive organs. Seriously ill individuals often die while waiting for transplants. It is also professionally frustrating to transplant surgeons who have the means to help many more individuals with defective organs. (Internet 12)

Before legislation passed in 1994, India had a successful legal market in organ trading. Low cost and availability brought in business from around the globe and transformed India into one of the largest kidney transplant centers on the world. (Internet 6) Ethical issues surrounding contribution donating pushed the Indian government to pass legislation banning the sale of organs. (Internet 13) In Iran kidney sales are legal and regulated which has eliminated the waiting list for kidneys in Iran. In 2007 a man in the United Kingdom became the first person convicted under the Human Tissue Act by trying o sell his kidney online for 24,000 pounds in order to pay off his...