Cash For Kidneys Summary

In the year 2012 in the United States of America alone, 95,000 men, women, and children were on the waiting list for a transplanted kidney. This issue is discussed in the articles: “Cash for Kidneys: The Case for a Market for Organs” and “When Altruism Isn’t Moral”. The authors of “Cash for Kidneys: The Case for a Market for Organs” Gary S. Becker, a professor of economics at the University of California, and Julio J. Elias, a professor at the Universidad del CEMA in Argentina, don’t agree fully with the author of “When Altruism isn’t Moral” Sally Satel, a psychiatrist, who received a transplanted kidney herself. She explains in her article how selling one’s bodily organs for a profit is unethical (Axelrod and Cooper 225). They may not agree on how to solve the transplantable organ deficit, but both agree that it is a major issue. The transplantable organ deficit is a problem at an all-time high and providing money as a form of compensation, though it may be unethical, may be

The number of those waiting for organs grows every year just as our population. The average amount of time someone who needs a transplant will wait is around eight years. However, some people in need of transplants will never receive the life saving organ. On average, four thousand people die every year, because they cannot survive the wait to get a transplant. Many people agree that to drum up donations, people need to be compensated for their donation, but it is not well agreed upon what the compensation should be. Both articles are about solutions to how we should compensate these donors and increase donations. Becker and Elias argue that the most effective means of compensation is monetary compensation. Conversely, Sally Satel argues that donating for monetary compensation would cause morality problems because people will donate for