Preview

Commercializing Organ Transplants

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1270 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Commercializing Organ Transplants
Imagine that you are a member of an ethics committee listening to arguments for and against altering the way in which human organs are obtained for patients in need of transplants. A new policy to allow the sale of organs by consenting individuals to patients in need and to medical institutions has been proposed. Critics argue that permitting organs to be bought and sold is unethical. You have been asked to review the arguments for and against the commercialization of organ transplants and to construct a report with your suggested plan of action. Use the Internet or Strayer databases to search for arguments for and against the commercialization of organ transplants, and then apply the principles learned in Weeks 1-3 to formulate your report. …show more content…
The National Organ Transplant Act of 1884 (NOTA), expressly forbids and has made it a criminal act for “any person to knowingly acquire, receive or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration in human transplantation if the transfer affects interstate commerce.” (NOTA, 1984) A crucial roadblock that affects the thousands of waiting recipients is the shortage of available organs. Donations from cadavers could greatly increase the availability of much needed organs. Efforts in the United States to provide financial incentives as a means of increasing cadaveric organ donations have failed because of congressional intent that human organs not be placed in a commercial market. (NOTA, …show more content…
References
Mayes, Gwen J D MMSc. “Buying and Selling Organs for Transplantation in the US National
Organ Transplant Act of 1904 (NOTA) Bans Buying and Selling”. Medscape, Multispecialty www.medscape.org
Delmonico, Francis M, MD. “Financial Incentives for Organ Donation” Medscape,
Multispecialty Medscape (2004) Web www.medscape.org
“End Stage Renal Disease (ERSD) What is Renal Failure”. Johns Hopkins Medicine Based in
Baltimore, MD. John Hopkins Health Article, ND Web www.hopkinsmedicine.org/../end_stage_renal_disease_ersd_85,P01474
Kishore, R.R . (2005 June) VOL 31 Issue “6” J Med Ethics Journal of Medical Ethics 17 July
2004 Web www.jme.bmj.com/content/31/6.toc
Shaw, William H. “Normative Theories of Ethics” Business Ethics: A Textbook with Cases. 8th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2010. 64. Print
Thomas, C. M. “Commercialization of the Supply of Organs for Transplantation.” Massey
University, the Engine of the New Zealand – Massey University School of Accountancy,
College of Business, 30 May 2001 Web 03 May 2014

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Organs For Sale Summary

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Organs for Sale” is an argument written in response to the on-going ethical debate of a market-based incentive program to meet the rising demands of organ transplants. With many on the waiting list for new organs and few organs being offered, the author, Sally Satel, urges for legalization of payment to organ donors. Once in need of a new kidney herself, Sally writes of the anguish she encountered while facing three days a week on dialysis and the long wait on the UNOS list with no prospective willing donors in sight. She goes on to list several saddening researched facts on dialysis patients survival rates, length of time on the UNOS wait list, and registered as well as deceased donor numbers. While Sally is…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people are simply reluctant to donate their bodily parts. In response to the shortage, proposals have come forth advocating the sale of non-vital human organs.” (Andre, Claire, and Manuel Velasquez. " Organ Selling and Transplants." Organ Selling and Transplants.)…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The ability to keep someone alive by replacing one of their major organs is an amazing achievement of this century of medicine. Unfortunately, the current supply of transplant organs is much lower than that need or demand for them, which means that many people in the United States die every year for lack of a replacement organ. When a person gets sick because one of his or her organs is failing, an organ is damaged because of a disease or its treatment, or lastly because the organ has been damaged in an accident a doctor needs to assess whether the person is medically eligible for a transplant or not. If the person is eligible the doctor refers the patient in need of an organ to a local transplant center. If the patient turns out to be a transplant candidate a donor organ then must be found. There are two sources of donor organs. The first source is to remove the organs from a recently deceased person, which are called cadaveric organs (Potzgar, 2007). A person becomes a cadaveric organ donor by indicating that they would like to be an organ donor when they die. This decision can be expressed either on a driver’s license or in a health care directive, which in some states are legally binding contracts. The second source is from a living…

    • 2294 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compensating donors for organ donations is one of the most controversial debates we have today. The shortage of organ donations in America is the one of the main reason there is a sudden drive to supplement the possible sources of organs. It first began with the move from donations of organs from cadaver to donations from living donors, and no the debate is rerisen, to the possibility of building a market for organ donations with a financial incentive.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yes, Let's Pay For Organs

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As everyone knows, there are millions of people waiting desperately for an organ to save their life's. Now a days there are countries like Singapore that allows the commercialization of organs for a really high amount. Even though; United States prohibited the option to sell organs for money, I believe that having the option to save other people by selling an organ is a very smart idea. In "Yes, let's Pay for Organs" by Charles Krauthammer; a political columnist, writes an essay to demonstrate that maybe selling organs for a low price would and may help to our society in general.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The topic of organ transplantation market raises ethical questions regarding the value of human life and the idea of commodifying human organs. Sally Satel on The Organ Donation podcast by EconTalk provided an interesting insight into the transplantation market discourse in the United States. In America, there are approximately 98,000 people on the waiting list for kidneys, but only five thousand are donated annually (Roberts, 2017). Correspondingly, as people wait for kidneys to become available, they receive dialysis treatment which accounts for 6 percent of the annual health budget (Roberts, 2017). Therefore, to solve the ongoing problem of kidney shortages, there is an argument for creating organ transplantation market, where people would…

    • 190 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    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 of paying people to sell and purchase human organs has created much controversy over the years. If someone wants to donate their organs, that is acceptable and even admirable. The idea of selling one’s organs for cash is generally deemed medically immoral. It is also immoral to entice people with money to “donate their organs”.…

    • 1251 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Would it be ethical or unethical for the government to allow people to buy and sell their organs? With commercializing Organ transplant the possibilities of unethical practices not to mention all the legal ramifications involved regarding this matter has been up for debate for years. Since 2003 there are more than 115,000 men, women and children awaiting organ transplants (1). Commercializing the sale of human tissue has been considered inhumane, irresponsible and totally unacceptable. In 1984 congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA).…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Commercialization of organ transplant can lead to health risks to the donor. People who are not fit to donate may offer to donate their organ for the monetary gains. This can result even in the death of the donor. Commercialization of organs may lead to loss of integrity and ethics in the society. People who are mentally unstable may be coerced to donate their organs. The rate of crime will also rise in the society. People will start killing each other so as to obtain the organs (Kanniyakonil, 2005). Commercialization of organs may lead to extortion of patients. This is in the case where an increase in the demand of a given…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Organ Sales Research Paper

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Should organ selling organs be legalized? Yes or no? me personally I would stand between it because there are plenty of good facts on both why and why it shouldn’t be legalized, such as; think about how many people die with good organs that someone else is in need of or suffering from and organ disease, so why let this person suffer? Then again, is it right to sell someone else’s organs and make a profit off of it? This is a hard topic to decide on , because you have to honestly think about it on both sides of the process. Especially, since over a million people suffer from organ disease all over the world. In this paper I will explain to you both the positives and negatives on this topic.…

    • 1336 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Selling Human Organs

    • 10020 Words
    • 41 Pages

    Should people be allowed to sell their organs? Currently, exchanging organs for money or other "valuable considerations" is illegal, but some members of the medical and business communities would like to change that. One of those is the American Medical Association's influential Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs. Convinced that the balance of moral and ethical concerns favors the ability to sell organs, they would like the laws to change, and the AMA's governing house of delegates is scheduled to vote in June on whether to support a pilot program. The American Society of Transplant Surgeons has already endorsed giving money for cadaveric organs to the families of the deceased.…

    • 10020 Words
    • 41 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Organ Trafficking Law

    • 2599 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The shortage of organs has led to the development of the international organ trade, where potential recipients travel abroad to obtain organs through commercial transactions. The problem is a global issue.…

    • 2599 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Over the last few decades the advances made in the fields of surgical technology have led to an increase in the number of people comfortable with having an organ transplant. Every year, thousands of people, from around the world, are being added to the waiting list to receive organs. Even though the number of people willingly to donate their organs has increased due to the constant campaigns made by government and NGO’s but it is not enough to meet the rising demand for human organs. This has created an urge to find an alternative that would make up for this downfall. John Harris and Charles proposed a “strictly regulated and highly ethical market in live donor organs and tissue.”[1] No doubt offering donors compensation in exchange for their organs is such an option but it is heavily fraught with strong moral sentiments. But the question of debate that arises here is; can we afford to reject an approach that would increase the supply of organs or the efficiency in which organs are allocated and transplant without thoughtful consideration?…

    • 2472 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    And yet, as I argue in my essay, the human organ cannot be equated with…

    • 5864 Words
    • 24 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The shortage of transplant organs is a major problem is beyond dispute. In 2008, a UK report published notes that from 2006-2007 more than 3,000 European patients received an organ transplant, however, the other 1,000 patients died because they had become too ill while waiting. They say that the total average of waiting time for an organ transplant in UK is almost three years. The national waiting list reached 7,235 and increased by 8% each year. Similarly, about 120,000 patients are on the waiting list in the US. However, in 2012, there were only 14,013 organ donors and 28,052 subsequent transplant procedures. The World Health Organization (WHO) revealed that in 2010, a total of 106,879 organs were transplanted to patients globally – fulfilling only about 10% of the requirement. In other words, legalizing the sale of human organs will save lives because it will completely eliminate the shortage of transplant organs. It will not only increase the number of organs donated, but also have faster transaction because of nearer sources. Hence, legalizing the sale of human organs will increase the possibility of saving more people’s lives.…

    • 5901 Words
    • 15 Pages
    Better Essays