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Ethics and organ sales
Organ trafficking research essays
Ethics and organ sales
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Selling organs should remain illegal because it corrupts morals, fosters criminals to steal organs, and exploits innocent people. An organ market would allow people to put such a high price on organs would make it so that only the wealthy would be able to afford it. Creating a legal organ market would encourage criminals to steal organs and sell them for a profit. By putting a price on human parts you are devaluing a human life and crippling morals. By supporting the legalization of selling organs you are putting a high price on the parts dramatically making the whole
worthless.
Joanna MacKay says in her essay, Organ Sales Will Save Lives, that “Lives should not be wasted; they should be saved.” Many people probably never think about donating organs, other than filling out the paper work for their drivers’ license. A reasonable amount of people check ‘yes’ to donate what’s left of their bodies so others may benefit from it or even be able to save a life. On the other hand, what about selling an organ instead of donating one? In MacKay’s essay, she goes more in depth about selling organs. Honestly, I did not really have an opinion on organ sales, I just knew little about it. Nonetheless, after I studied her essay, I feel like I absolutely agreed with her. She argues that the sale of human organs should be authorized. Some crucial features in an argument consist of a clear and arguable position, necessary background information, and convincing evidence.
Richard A. Epstein’s “Thinking the Unthinkable: Organ Sales” (2005) is an argument trying to convince people that selling human organs is acceptable in order to increase the availability for those in need of an organ transplant. Epstein says money will motivate more people to donate their organs to those in need. He also looks at the argument from the point of the recipient of the organ and argues that the expense of buying an organ will not increase the price of getting an organ transplant.
How many people would we save if in that exact moment, we would legalize organ sales? In Joanna Mackay’s essay “Organ Sales Will Save Lives” she discusses the positive effects of legalizing the sale of human organs. Thousands of people try to find a perfect match of something that can give them years and years more of life. A match for the right heart, the right set of lungs, a kidney, and so why how come there is a barrier of uncertainty? So many people die in this world but yet seek for a chance to survive and fight the good fight. It seems inevitable but it’s the truth. Lives should be kept alive not diminished even if there is the slightest chance of survival rate. Mackay clearly explains that legalizing organs can save thousands of lives. But at what cost is the donor willing to go? In Mackay’s essay, legalizing organs would be a beneficial act, in which it would save lives, great way to
There are many arguments against it; organ sale is extremely dangerous, there will never be enough supply for the demand, whether legal or not, the black market will still exist, it is immoral, etc. In the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Radcliffe Richards, a philosopher, says “living organ donation is now so safe that many surgeons actively recommend it, and they would hardly do that if they expected a string of dead or damaged donors” (Wilkinson, 2011). As for the black market, “the best way of avoiding harm to organ vendors is not to criminalize and drive sale underground but rather to accept and regulate it” (Wilkinson, 2011). Prohibition is a good example of how the government banned alcohol and then realized that people were going to drink it anyway. Instead of pretending that it was not happening, prohibition was lifted and laws were put in place to regulate the sale and consumption. Although it will be a difficult process, the same can happen for organ
Mandatory organ donation would consist of passing a law wherein the government mandates organ donation from every person who dies. In other words, unless a person chooses to opt out of the donation process, he or she is automatically an organ donor by law. According to Spranger (2012), organ donation is a gift of life and by donating organs after we die, we can literally bring someone back to life. It is a pretty good gesture; however, it could be argued that everyone should want to donate their organs when they die and consent for donation should be speculated. One of the arguments against mandatory organ donation is you don't own your body once you die. The assumption is that the body would belong to the government and not to the family.
The uncontainable despair of the weeping and screaming parents entering a room full of body bags containing the altered remains of their children. In a room drained with blood and surrounding fridges for the maintenance of the ejected organs, everything seems miserably surreal(“Children Kidnapped for Their Organs”). This is only one of the discovered cases of the daily dozens of people killed for organ harvestation. Adding up to ten thousand illegal operations in 2012 which translates to hourly sales (Samadi). These abhorrent acts add up as crimes against humanity which are triggered by a numerous amount of reasons; in order to stop these constant atrocities we must uncover the root of the causes.
Imagine being a hospitalized patient waiting for an organ donation to save your life, knowing that the amount of people in need of organs outweigh the amount of donors. This is a sad reality for many people across the United States due to the lack of available organs. The debate over monetary payment to donors to increase available organs has been an ongoing fight for over 30 years. In 1984 an act was passed to put tight restrictions on organ sales through Task Force on Organ Procurement and Transplantation, which resulted in a depleted amount of available organs. This act that changed the organ sales industry was called the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). NOTA was originally created to stop exploitative and illegal sales between donors and patients, but turned into a method of decreasing organ availability for patients around the world. I explored two articles over the complications of organ sale legality to discover if the monetary payment of organs should be outlawed. The first article focuses on the different market factors that affect the public opinion and the second explores the financial incentive declined caused by organ donations.
For starters I would like to high light that I do not agree with organ trade, I absolutely detest it. To save a life by giving an organ is a good thing but selling it develops problems. Selling organs is very immoral because it allows our vital organs to be sold like a piece of crap. I do not see how legalization is okay, because no one should want to have their body part(s) sold on the market as though they are an item. However, I do support giving organs for great causes and maybe, giving it to science. Those are fairly acceptable things and they can become beneficial to science and people in need. In recent studies I found that “People who sell their kidneys receive a small amount for their donation, after all the majority goes to whomever is the broker i...
When viewing organ donation from a moral standpoint we come across many different views depending on the ethical theory. The controversy lies between what is the underlying value and what act is right or wrong. Deciding what is best for both parties and acting out of virtue and not selfishness is another debatable belief. Viewing Kant and Utilitarianism theories we can determine what they would have thought on organ donation. Although it seems judicious, there are professionals who seek the attention to be famous and the first to accomplish something. Although we are responsible for ourselves and our children, the motives of a professional can seem genuine when we are in desperate times which in fact are the opposite. When faced with a decision about our or our children’s life and well being we may be a little naïve. The decisions the patients who were essentially guinea pigs for the first transplants and organ donation saw no other options since they were dying anyways. Although these doctors saw this as an opportunity to be the first one to do this and be famous they also helped further our medical technology. The debate is if they did it with all good ethical reasoning. Of course they had to do it on someone and preying upon the sick and dying was their only choice. Therefore we are responsible for our own health but when it is compromised the decisions we make can also be compromised.
Organ sale will be helpful in the lives of society and should be legal. The selling of human organs will give the individual a better financial life for them and their family, create a safer environment for those who will sell their organs, and to save the lives of many. By making organ sale legal the United States of America will be able to regulate organs properly through a system in which the people waiting on a list to be saved will decrease. The legal sale of organs will create an environment where people will want to save
In conclusion, although there are some valid reasons to support the creation of an organ market based on the principles of beneficence and autonomy, there are also many overriding reasons against the market. Allowing the existence of organ markets would theoretically increase the number of organ transplants by living donors, but the negative results that these organ markets will have on society are too grave. Thus, the usage of justice and nonmaleficence as guiding ethical principles precisely restricts the creation of the organ market as an ethical system.
First of all, selling organs shouldn’t be legal for two main reasons, which are saving lives and stop people from selling organs illegally in the black market. The world should understand that in many cases if someone didn’t get the organ they need they will suffer and have to die in some cases. This doesn’t means that the donors will have to give up their lives but, they can and will live healthy. For example if someone is dyeing and in need of a kidney and there is no chance for that person to live unless he gets one. Legalizing selling organs will saves this person’s life because he would easily buy an organ and complete the rest of his life without and problems. But in the case of that kidney that is in need, other people could sell theirs without having and problems that would affect them. Humans have two kidneys and one kidney that wills saves other person live is going to kill this person or even hurts.
...nts will die before a suitable organ becomes available. Numerous others will experience declining health, reduced quality of life, job loss, lower incomes, and depression while waiting, sometimes years, for the needed organs. And still other patients will never be placed on official waiting lists under the existing shortage conditions, because physical or behavioral traits make them relatively poor candidates for transplantation. Were it not for the shortage, however, many of these patients would be considered acceptable candidates for transplantation. The ban of organ trade is a failed policy costing thousands of lives each year in addition to unnecessary suffering and financial loss. Overall, there are more advantages than disadvantages to legalizing the sale of organs. The lives that would be saved by legalizing the sale of organs outweighs any of the negatives.
It might cause some problems. Making it so people are financially compensated might turn into a valuable thing. “Selling your organs is illegal in the United States. It's also very dangerous. Handing off an organ is risky enough when done in a top hospital, even more so if you're doing it for cash in a back alley.
The decision to become an organ donor is one that should not be taken lightly. The decision to become a donor could potentially save the lives of up to 10 people. If organ donation has such positive outcomes, why does New Zealand have such a low donor rate? Many New Zealanders chose not to become donors for various reasons. Some of which are the lack of understanding about the circumstances that come with organ or tissue donation. For a listed donor to actually donate their organs after death, they must have suffered severe, irreversible, brain injury and died in such a way that they are in a hospital on life support, keeping their organs alive. They are then tested for brain death. Brain death is a state when, after an injury to the brain, their brain stem is no longer active. Many people choose not to become a donor because they misunderstand brain death and confuse it for a coma. The key difference between brain death and a coma is that comatose patients are sending out brain signals while brain dead people are not. While many people choose not to be a donor due to their lack of understanding on the circumstances that come with organ or tissue donation, others choose not to due to their in depth understanding of the system. The brain death exams involve a few simple tests. Ice water is splashed into the ears to look for shivering in the eyes, the eyes are poked with a cotton swab, any gag reflexes are checked and the ventilator is disconnected to see if the patient is able to breathe without it. Some are shocked to discover that brain dead patients are not tested for higher brain activity. It was recommended to use