First impulse: it's mine, isn't it? Further thought produced some icky scenes of livers on display at a farmer's market...or ebay pages listing pedigrees in their descriptions...kidding. Once again, there's a conflict in my mind between what seems "technically" right and what is best for the general good...and last time I looked, we were still part of a thing called society. We may have become more disconnected from each other than ancient tribes, but we do still have a connection that we rely on.
I live in the Philippines-sadly selling a kidney is quite comman here-there is even a government office, the Kidney Bureau, designed to regulate the activities of "kidney hunters"-the fee for selling your kidney is maybe around 3500 US dollars-around the annual pay of a high school teacher and maybe 2.5 times the pay of the typical sellers of kindeys-this operation, done as cheaply a possible with little follow up care, often renders the sellers unable to do work for the rest of his life and predicably shortens his life expectancy.
I don't think people should be allowed to SELL body parts. Many people faced with extreme poverty would be willing to sell a kidney just to eat...it feels immoral to me to dangle money in front of people in need to get a body part. I know that some people will argue this point...but I liken it to prostitution in a way. Desperate women sell their bodies to survive on the streets...instead we should be doing more to help those in need so they won't be faced with doing something like this.
3 comments:
First impulse: it's mine, isn't it? Further thought produced some icky scenes of livers on display at a farmer's market...or ebay pages listing pedigrees in their descriptions...kidding. Once again, there's a conflict in my mind between what seems "technically" right and what is best for the general good...and last time I looked, we were still part of a thing called society. We may have become more disconnected from each other than ancient tribes, but we do still have a connection that we rely on.
Final answer: yes, with caveats.
I live in the Philippines-sadly selling a kidney is quite comman here-there is even a government office, the Kidney Bureau, designed to regulate the activities of "kidney hunters"-the fee for selling your kidney is maybe around 3500 US dollars-around the annual pay of a high school teacher and maybe 2.5 times the pay of the typical sellers of kindeys-this operation, done as cheaply a possible with little follow up care, often renders the sellers unable to do work for the rest of his life and predicably shortens his life expectancy.
there is an excellant article on this pratice at
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hArQn4tsN4n_cT1TcmiLJN_axsfQ
I don't think people should be allowed to SELL body parts. Many people faced with extreme poverty would be willing to sell a kidney just to eat...it feels immoral to me to dangle money in front of people in need to get a body part. I know that some people will argue this point...but I liken it to prostitution in a way. Desperate women sell their bodies to survive on the streets...instead we should be doing more to help those in need so they won't be faced with doing something like this.
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