organ article

[Anthony]

There are two compelling reasons to object to the sales of organs, whether
from living donors or the families of patients who have recently died. The
first one is exploitation, that is, when one person takes advantage of the
misfortune of another for their own gain. There are many people in the world
who live in settings with limited opportunities to improve their lives, and
for whom 5,000 or 10,000 offers truly life-changing outcomes. But it is only
because of existing social conditions that selling a kidney for what seems
to be an impossibly large sum becomes attractive. Organ donation has always
relied on the altruism of donors and their loved ones, with the hope that
whatever risk is involved is balanced by the benefit of the good deed of
donation. But most people have a price that will encourage them to ignore
whatever qualms they have about donating an organ and the changes the
relationship from giving a gift to being paid enough to ignore risk. A
market allows this shift, and it is a change we have been loath to accept up
to now.
Another factor is that the sale of organs gives an advantage to those with
the means to pay for them. Whatever problems exist in the current system or
organ allocations in the term of shortages and waiting times, it is at least
fair. Rich patients can't pay to jump to the front of the queue. But that is
exactly what happens in the case of a market for organs, those who can pay
the most get organs first. We may accept such a free market approach with
other commodities, the newest car or the latest electronic machine; but it
is much less defensible to allocate scare lifesaving medical technology in
the same way.

 

[John W. Vinson]

There are two compelling reasons to object to the sales of organs,

Interesting essay, but it has no relevance to the database software Microsoft
Access, the subject of this newsgroup. Perhaps you intended to send this by
private email.