Even Stars Bleed

POLITICS/SOCIETAL ISSUE: SHOULD ORGAN TRADING BE ALLOWED? NO,SAYS POLL.

Article: http://www.straitstimes.com/

Brief Summary: In this recent article, Singaporeans are AGAINST changing the law to allow organs to be bought and sold here. Singaporeans here are not keen to sell their organs but they appear to have no qualms buying them if they need to. Should we legalize organ sale? Is this ban on organ sale prissy and paternalistic?

Reflections: When the subject of organ sale came up some time back, I was aghast that such a suggestion could even be made. However now, I’m not so sure. Having seen patients who have died because of lack of a donor organ, having seen how black markets have emerged to meet this need, I now think there may be a strong case to be made to legalize the sale of human organs.

      Firstly, lets look at some conflicting viewpoints. 1) It degrades the value of human life, to treat the body as you would any other object. 2) It exploits the poor, who will be the only sellers. 3) Morally wrong.
Ethically, it is indeed very hard to accept organs as a commodity that can be bought and sold, as the possibilities of abuse and profiteering are tremendous. While ethical boundaries do change with time and public sentiments, I feel that the society needs to discuss this issue openly. Back to my point, firstly, I only support the sale only of kidneys.
People can continue to lead healthy lives with one kidney, and the risk of death from donating a kidney is less than one in 1000. While selling a heart is definitely out, a liver transplant carries a 1 to 3 percent risk of death, definitely too high a risk.

      About 3,000 people in Singapore have kidney failure and at least a third of them would be living better lives at a much cheaper cost – a transplant. Basically, dialysis dose not stop the ravages to the body from a non-functioning kidney. So people on dialysis actually live shorter lives. Right now, patients are needlessly dying while precious organs that could save them rot away in the ground or are burnt to ashes.

      Is it an acceptable option to obtain kidneys for transplant through commercial deals with people who need the money?An editorial in the British Medical Journal in 2002 once suggested a monopsony, with the state as the sole purchaser. The state allocates the kidneys to patients on a need basis, not just to the rich who can afford to pay.
Does this degrade human life? Perhaps. But so does prostitution. Yet there is no outcry against prostitution, which goes on in many developed countries.

      The sale of a woman’s body in prostitution is to gratify. The sale of a kidney is to save a life. A prostitute risks getting sexually transmitted diseases, including the deadly Aids.

      Are the poor being exploited if organ sale is allowed?Perhaps. But life is not fair. The poor, by definition, are getting a rawer deal. If a poor person feels that the money he gets from the sale of a kidney could make a difference in his life, and that of his family, who are we to deny him that chance?We should not encourage him to sell his kidney. But the final decision is his to make. Professor Alastair Campbell once said that no matter how hard we try, we cannot expect a perfectly ethical market to exist.

      It is all a matter of weighing the risks against the benefits. And putting in as many safeguards as we can to protect sellers from being exploited. A final argument: Organ trading has already existed. Over the past years, many people have gone abroad for these transplants. Many people are doing it, but this does not make it right.

      But if it cannot be stopped, then it may be better to legalize it, to protect both buyer and seller. It would be the lesser of two evils.

(click to enlarge)