Phil 2300-301
13 April 2010
[Title]
Is it time for our society to reconsider the prohibitive laws that make it legally impossible to establish licit markets for bodily organs? So many people are unable to obtain organs they need due to the lack of availability. Increased medical advances have created the need for many more organs than are available (Staff). A commercial market may or may not solve the problem. There is a lack of commitment when it comes to donating organs which could be from fear. Potential donors fear medical personnel will not make every attempt possible to save their lives if they know they are donors. Little do they know, their organs will be available to save 50 more lives in the event of their death. The idea …show more content…

Why would someone give something away that they can sell? The idea of selling organs by the living would bring out the poverty stricken who would sell organs out of desperation. If we followed the Iranian model, it may be a success. In this context, the Iranian model, in which donors are routinely paid and well looked after, and where the supply of organs matches demand, is often considered the gold standard (The Lancet). Although there is also the feeling that lower quality organs would be made available. Those who would be most willing to participate in this method would be those most desperate for money. Generally the impoverished live with poorer health due to their lack financial ability to take care of themselves, therefore causing them to be less healthy donors. Also, if we had to purchase our transplanted organs, only those who could financially afford them would be able to receive transplants. The next argument is presumed consent. “The presumed consent system of organ procurement is currently used in many European countries. It means that medical professionals are presumed to have a deceased individual's and surviving family members' consent to remove needed organs, unless those individuals have earlier made known their objections to organ removal” (The Legal Dictionary). Proponents of this idea feel it will increase organ availability as well as removing the liability from the physician as well as making the decision of transplant easier for