BBC News | Health | Payment for organ donations Quote:
People should be paid for living organ donations, a US surgeon has said in an article in the British Medical Journal. A regulated system for paying donors for organs such as kidneys would help solve the "desperate" need for organs, Professor Amy Friedman writes. Prof Friedman, from Yale University School of Medicine, believes the system would prevent exploitation. But British experts warned such a scheme would still exploit the most vulnerable members of society.
Donors in the UK are paid by the NHS for travel expenses and loss of earnings associated with the operation, but cannot be paid for the organ.
Prof Friedman, who has worked as a transplant surgeon for 15 years, said the severe shortage of organs had generated desperation among patients waiting for a transplant.And despite laws prohibiting payments for organs, wealthy patients could travel abroad to buy organs such as kidneys for transplant.
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Personally, I think this is a great thing. Hopefully, it will lead to a higher availability of free organs, which can only be a good thing. However, there are claims that the system would be exploitative:
Quote:
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Quote by: Prof. Stephen Wigmore The problem still remains that nobody is going to sell a kidney unless they need the money. Even if you give a kidney to a poor person it's still going to be a vulnerable person who donated it. |
I can't see the problem myself. Surely the new system would be
helping the poor by allowing them to make something out of what they have. People would be paid to donate their organs, not forced, so what's the problem? What are your thoughts?