The Pros And Cons Of Organ Transplantation

In modern medicine societies, organ transplantation is an opportunity to save peoples’ lives. The downside of organ transplantation is that the demand for organs outweighs the supply. This becomes morally challenging in the context for those who participate in a market as a solution due to the lack of available organs. A market is the selling of organs, which is an unlawful practice in many parts of the world. It is a transaction between those who are seeking for organs to arrange with brokers, and procure organs from those who exist in impoverished, underdeveloped countries. An effort to increase the organ pool is to offer a financial inducement for the organ vendors. The ethical issue of this strategy is that donors no longer participate for altruistic reasons but decide to become vendors, for financial purposes, which means to partake in a commodity for material gain.
The moral theories I will use to support my arguments are from a Utilitarian, Kantian, and Feminist perspective. I will argue, people who participate in a market to augment organ supply because of financial incentives may merely choose to sell …show more content…
Thus, when we consent we no longer treat the body as a “mere body” and the person’s body is no longer an object Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 365). If people are consenting to sell their organs they are then voluntarily making that choice. Autonomy, a Kantian principle requires that we respect the choices of others even when we disagree with them (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 36). Some would justify this is sufficient for those who value individual autonomy and do not see the body as having any intrinsic value past what its owner desire to give it (Collier & Haliburton, 2015, p. 359). Also, volunteering to sell our organs does not mean we are loosing the altruistic values of giving an organ is lost and commodifying does not mean the only thing of value is