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Claire Taylor

Caitlin Bauer

Intro to Ethics 2206.101

04 December 2018

Is Organ Donation Profit Ethical?

Organ donation is defined as “ the process of giving an organ or a part of an organ for the

purpose of transplantation into another person. Both deceased and living organ donation begins

with a person who recognizes an opportunity to help others.”(UNOS 2018). Organ donation is

commonly known around the world as something that helps out many people around the world

needing a second chance or a better life. Did you know that people sell their organs for a profit?

This does unfortunately happen all the time and all around us. This is commonly known as

transplant tourism. The World Health Organization defines this as “involves not only the

purchase and sales of organs, but also other elements relating to the commercialization of organ

transplantation.” (World Health Organization 2011). The internet is being used to attract the

attention of foreign transplanters. The market has grown with the demand of organs. “Several

web sites offer all-inclusive “transplant packages” – the price of a renal transplant package

ranges from US$ 70,000 to 160,000”(World Health Organization 2011). In today's society three

out of every four organ donors are deceased at the time of donation to the living recipient.

Selling organs for profit is an ethical issue, because it is taking way from those that are on

the waitlist. There are about 120,000 people on the donation waitlist and about 100,000 of them

are waiting on kidneys. It is also unsafe to get a surgery from sometimes untrained people.

According to The World Health Organization “report a heightened frequency of medical

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complications, including the transmission of HIV and the hepatitis B and C viruses” (World

Health Organization 2011). This shows that most of these things occur at unstandardized medical

practices. In some cases no medical information is exchanged between patients, which means

you have no medical health record of the received organ. Another way is that living donors are

becoming less likely to give up there organs without compensation. According to The World

Health Organization’s research it “shows that the underlying motivation of most paid kidney

donors is poverty, and that lasting economic benefit after donation is limited or even negative

because of the limited employability of such patients and the perceived deterioration of their

health” (World Health Organization 2011). Most paid kidney donors do not receive the proper

follow up care they should receive due to the compensation which makes them more susceptible

to diseases and complications. It is shocking that people are selling their organs because they are

faced with poverty in there everyday lives.

There are some views against selling organs for profit in some cases people are human

trafficked for someone to profit off of there organs. “In China, around 12,000 kidney and liver

transplants were performed in 2005. Most of the transplant organs were alleged to have been

procured from executed prisoners, a practice which itself is criticized by the international

community”(World Health Organization 2011). The term organ-importing countries is used to

describe the countries that are of origin and whose patients who are traveling overseas to

purchase organs for transplantation. Children who are sold into slavery or sexual abuse are also

sometimes used for profit of their organs.

There are a few philosophical views about organ donation for profit that stood out to me

when I was reading about it. Michael Sandel is a american political philosopher who had very

specific views about this subject. Our society tends to look down option those that sell there
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bodys such as prostitution. He points out the fact that we do still allow prostitution to occur, men

and women to sell their reproductive cells for profit, women to be surrogates and receive

compensation. He asks himself and society a few questions: Where is the moral line drawn for

selling your renal organs? Why is it drawn? Michael also made the connection that in these

situations the richer or the two is coming out on top. The wealthy are skipping out on the huge

organ registry based on the urgency of need and taking organs away from those that need them

and have done there time. Most of the people that are selling their organs are selling them

because they are facing poverty. He pointed out that as americans we do not support organ sales

because if we are able to donate we want to have bragging right and have the feeling about

helping someone else because we are selfish. He also made the point that most organ donation is

posthumous donation which means that the donor is not really sacrificing much they will both

still live with minor implications. Kantianism view of organ donation was he believes that

anyone who wishes to sell a part of their body is violating their principle and is wrongfully

acting. He believes that they are not respecting their own dignity of there bodys, they are not

realizing what there dignity standings for and what it means to have respect for it. The altruistic

view of organ donation is very simple the idea of organ donation is built from the morals of

altruism. It is the idea that an individual will make a decision to benefit another without thinking

of the personal consequences. This altruistic behavior is very commonly seen in nature naturally

and occurs in our society daily. The opposite view of thinking that organ donation is beneficial

would be the egoistic view which is the selfish and self viewed opinion that would benefit the

donor only.

I do support organ donation when it is done voluntarily. I do not however support organ

donation that is used to profit someone's life financially. It is taking away from the individuals
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that are are on the national registry for organs by medical need. Some people sit on this list for

years and wait there turn to get an opportunity of a lifetime. They should not be punished for not

being able to want to buy an organ in an unsafe environment. It is not a safe way to receive an

organ most people that are doing this are not trained and this could have lasting effects on both

involved parties. Some of these effects are diseases, and sometimes death. I share the altruistic

view that more lives can be benefited by organ donation from living and unfortunately deceased

patients. I am an organ donor in my state and if I could ever be given the chance to help someone

live a better life and give them another chance I would do that to help someone else.

Works Cited

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4478599/
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Stempsey, S. J. ..William E. “Organ Markets and Human Dignity: On Selling Your Body and Soul.”

Christian Bioethics: Non-Ecumenical Studies in Medical Morality, vol. 6, no. 2, Aug. 2000, pp.

195–204. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rlh&AN

=4561354&site=eds-live.

“Donation.” UNOS, 28 June 2018,

unos.org/donation/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8fvCp9r03gIVSNbACh0bnQ8DEAAYAyAAEgJkHPD_B

wE.

“The State of the International Organ Trade: a Provisional Picture Based on Integration of

Available Information.” World Health Organization, World Health Organization, 4 Mar.

2011, www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/85/12/06-039370/en/.

Kerstein, Samuel. “Is It Ethical to Purchase Human Organs?” The Conversation, The

Conversation, 26 Nov. 2018, theconversation.com/is-it-ethical-to-purchase-human-

organs-60990.

“Body Snatchers: Organ Harvesting For Profit.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers,

www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/reading-between-the-headlines/201311/body-

snatchers-organ-harvesting-profit.

“'Anybody Need a Kidney?' or 'What Are the Moral Limits of Markets?'.” Philosophy Talk,

www.philosophytalk.org/blog/anybody-need-kidney-or-what-are-moral-limits-markets.