Commercialization of Organ Transplants

Commercialization of Organ Transplants

Commercializing the sale of transplant organs has become a popular topic of discussion within the last few years. I was surprised that in my beginning research I found that a lot of people are for the commercial sale of organs to patients who need them and actually believe that it has the potential to become something that could change the way we look at organ transplants. R R Kishore wrote in his paper, Human organs, scarcities, and sale: morality revisited, To many the process may sound iniquitous and even sinful but, in fact, it is fair and natural and is consistent with normal human behaviour. The back and forth argument about whether or not the sale of human organs is a moral issue has many positions and points of view, however seems to be split between those who feel it is a natural solution that goes along with human nature and those who feel it is degrading and unethical and goes against equality for the human race.

From my research I have been able to find out about the different practices of organ sales. Most of the times when people think about organ sales they most often associate it with the cases of a person who is in need of money and sells a kidney to another person who needs it. However I have learned through research that there are many other scenarios. One (in countries where the prior consent of the deceased is required for cadaveric organ donation) is to pay people living now for rights over their body after death. Another (in countries where the consent of relatives is required for cadaveric organ donation) is to pay relatives for transplant rights over their recently deceased loved ones' bodies (Garzon, 2012).

Going into this assignment I didn’t really have a set side that I was on when it came to this topic. However after reading many articles on the subject I was able to better form a solid opinion. After gaining a better understanding of the subject overall I have come to the belief that...