Legitimation of the sale of human organs could lead to an increase in the diseases and poor health standards in the society. Lucky transplantations depend on a close familial match between the donor and the recipient such as identical twins. In case there is no hereditary resemblance, the recipient’s body could reject the organ and tissue regeneration would not take place. This could result in the receiver indulging in several diseases or even death. Further, there could be considerable psychological implications for the donor if the recipient's body rejects the organ. For example, in the case of the familial donor, there would be extreme guilt over the pain he or she undertook to donate the organ would be useless in this case. Transplantation is a very hectic procedure; both the donor and the recipient have to undergo surgeries and several medical checkups. So, this could adversely affect the health of both parties. “Post-transplant, the donors, experience lots of pain and discomfort, and they now carry a scar that runs from the mid-abdomen to their back… In the review of 287 donors in the University of Minnesota. The donors later developed the same disease that had previously affected the recipient” (Simmons et al. 166). The removal of healthy organs from the body also threatens the functional integrity of the donor’s body as the whole. There are possibilities that the donor could get different diseases such as habituates or cancer after the removal of their organ. A column in a medical journal stated, “Despite the advances made in immune-suppressive therapy, the problem of maintaining a viable organ in a hostile environment, without fatally compromising the host’s ability to resist disease, remains the central problem of transplantation” (Editorial 2835). The value of one healthy individual is greater than the two unhealthy people (donor and recipient) in the society. So, the legalization of the sale of human organs could lead to an increase in the diseases and death rates.
Legalization of the sale of human organs in the open market would give birth to several economic problems in the society such as the increasing gap between rich and poor. Should the organs of humans be regarded as items to be bought or sold in the market just as parts of an automobile? This is a crossroad
where the humanity stands and needs to distinguish between right and wrong, moral and immoral. Organ transplantation is a highly labour intensive surgery and involves significant physical exertion and financial cost for the patient. So, in the sale of organs, customers would be the rich while the suppliers would be the poor, and it could not be vice versa as indigent people could not afford the expense of the surgery or even buying the organ. So, the sale of organs would affect the poverty as “the wealthy, know that the existence of pitiable people means a steady supply of organs, then it won’t be in their interests to eradicate poverty. As such, allowing individuals to sell their organs may result in a reluctance to help the poor and contribute, therefore, to the continued existence of poverty” (Lawlor 197). By the legalization, there would also be a great impact on the third-world countries as many unemployed miserable people would take it as an opportunity to make some money, by desperately selling one of their kidneys or any other organs to a wealthy sick person in the first-world countries. This desperation for making money might drive the indigent donor to focus on the monetary benefits while ignoring the long-term health costs. So, it is unacceptable to benefit wealthy countries at the expense of the poor. Such transactions of organ sale would only increase the gap between the wealthy and woeful regarding health, power and wealth. Further, after making the donation for a chunk of money, most of the wretched people do not receive proper medical treatment, which could eventually result in health complications such as disabilities, infections or even death. Sale of human organs is exploitative in nature as poor people are exploited, no matter how high the price they are receiving, and there could be no financial compensation for their organs. Shafer in his article says, “Those who are most vulnerable to exploitation are often not those who need something, but those who have something that others desperately want [healthy organs]. These victims are the poor and disadvantaged who are the targets of organ trafficking” (6). Critics often argue about the high costs of organ transplantation setups when thousands of people do not have access to primary health care facilities. Moreover, currently the sale of organs is made through unregulated black markets, little is paid for a person’s organ, and health services are so minimal that selling organ is not an attractive option. If the sale were legalized then the selling of organs would increase dramatically as the poor will see an opportunity to earn enough money. The argument is logical in a way that governments should focus on providing the basic health services to the poor in spite of, giving them an opportunity, by legalizing the sale of organs, to earn money by selling their body parts.
Another threat that the legalization of the sale of human organs poses is the increase in the crime rates such as human trafficking. Human trafficking is a crime in which people are traded, primarily to extract their organs or tissues for sale in the market (Persia). ">Human trafficking is most commonly practised in many parts of the world, most dominantly in India and Philippines, where innocent young people kidnapped for their organs. Organ-related trafficking is often transnational. Suppliers of the organs are from one country while the receivers from the other, as to avoid detection from the law enforcement institutions. There are different criminal gangs who act as a middle-man or broker in the sale of human organs. A report in 2009 stated:
"Organized crime groups lure people abroad with false promises and convince or force them to sell their organs for a low price. The recipients of the organs pay a much higher price than the donors get. This part benefits the traffickers who are part of an organised criminal network [brokers]. The trafficked organs can be acquired in many different and terrible ways. People may be kidnapped, killed and sold, especially children, for their organs. Other means for the brokers to procure the organs are through deception or coercion. There have been cases where a victim will go to a doctor or hospital for an unrelated illness or accident, but in the hospital, the person’s kidney is removed without their knowledge or consent” (t;">Pernia).
uot;">Criminal activists hite">make many innocent young people sell their organs without their consent, in the markets. uot;">Legalization would make it easier for these criminals to sell organs in the market and earn easy money as the supply of organs is limited while the demand is very high. This could result in the increasing number of kidnaps and killings. This would just act like turning the black money into the white. Criminals selling organs in the black markets before would know have full rights to sell organs in the markets and for this, they need large supplies or inventory of organs which can only come from kidnaping innocent people and taking their kidneys out forcefully. Moreover, none of the distribution systems for organ procurement would be efficient as the doctors could involve in corruptions. If the sale of human organs were legalized, hospitals and large pharmacies would act like
the markets as buyers and sellers of organs would come into contact. This could result in doctors or medical supervisors taking more money from the recipients while giving lesse donors. The sale of human organs should not be legalized as it would give birth to criminal active ties.
Sale of human organs poses many virtuous and ethical limitations such as the consent from the donor or the family members (in case of cadaveric donors) to donate the organs. Moral and ethical issues have been raised in relation to every facet of human organ transplantation. These also include taking organs from a healthy donor, and related problems regarding a person’s willingness or unwillingness to have organs removed for the benefit of others. These issues are not just limited to living human beings, but the cadaveric organ donation also raises moral questions such as the criteria of death or the authorization of organ removal from a deceased body. There may be a time when every part of a departed body may be used for the benefit of others or research, but it is necessary to ask whether there is a moral limit to what can be done to a dead body. It is immoral to ask for organ donation from the family members of a deceased person as they cannot think rationally in the state of grief. Medical experts believe that for a successful cadaveric transplant, it is necessary that the organs should have some life remaining in them or otherwise, a dead organ would bring no benefit to the recipient. Is this justified to deliberately kill a dying patient for the sake of his or her organs? This is an ethical dilemma that the world faces.Although the odds of a dying patient’s recovery are very least, yet it can never be justified to preserve his or her organs and kill him intentionally. Lamb in his book writes:
“It would be preferable by far for man’s future survival to have to abandon transplantation than to agree to remove vital organs from individuals who are not really dead… Patients in persistent vegetative states, like dying anencephalic infants, are capable of being loved and pitied in a way that acadaver is not. While they breathe and live they should not be dissected for organ removal until brainstem death occurs” (24).
Not only moral and ethical but also religious and secular limitations apply for the sale of cadaveric human organs in the market. Most of the religions in the world do not allow self-mutilation on the argument that the human body ultimately belongs to God. Further, there is no belief or system, which allows recipient gains as a consequence of donor’s deliberate death. Nevertheless, there is space for live organ transplantations, provided that there is full consent of the donor, but “there have been various estimates of the risks entailed by live organ donations. A 1985 estimate suggested that around 20 donors had died in good institutions throughout America after the removal of a single kidney” (Lamb 104). One might pay someone to sit for an examination in one’s place, which is immoral and illegitimate, but it involves no physical harm upon the person. However, there are serious moral implications of paying someone to put themselves in danger to donate an organ, especially the case of poor people. Taking into account, the moral and moral dilemmas posed by organ transplantation, the sale of human organs in the open market could not be justified.
The opposing views advocating the removal of restrictions on human organs and tissue sales to the market, justify their stance by drawing attention to the humanitarian desire to benefit others and the need to eliminate organ storages. Their arguments are mostly on the grounds that after death to a person, his organs would become food for the insects in the grave or decompose in the coffin. So, it is better to preserve them and use them to save precious human lives as one person’s death could offer hope for others. Although this is a valid consideration, but it is based on the principle that ends justify the means – moral and ethical limitations are outweighed by the realistic need to save lives – which is not acceptable. Further, it is not feasible as no one can see the body of loved ones operated or organs taken out even after their death. Legalizing the sale of human organs would decrease the sanctity and integrity for human organs and life. Lamb in his book says, “Respect for the body of the deceased is a feature of all religious belief systems and secular moral codes. The body represents the past memory of life, which should be kept as close as possible to the image of the loved one. For this reason, the idea of mutilation is unacceptable. Although a cadaver is not a person, it deserves respect because it was that person’s body” (122). Additionally, poor people or criminals could go to the graveyards, if cadaveric donations legalized, to dig out recently deceased people and sell their organs to earn money. Hence, the sale of human organ should not be allowed, and the governments should take necessary steps to eradicate black markets.
Does a person who needs an organ to live, has a moral claim over the organs of another person? This is the basic question that needs to be addressed before deciding whether to legalize the sale of human organs. Technological advancements have made humans capable of transplanting many organs of the human body, but the dream of creating a “healthy whole person by transplantation remained within the realm of mythology and the miraculous” for researchers, since many years (Lamb 7). Although this is fascinating, but the sale of human organs in the markets could not be justified as if, price tags were attached to each body part of a human, people would start viewing each other as a product of quantifiable value. As a result, the value to an individual would simply become the sum of all its body parts. “Organ donation is undoubtedly a profound humane gesture, but its legalization and use without major restrictions involve one of the greatest risks' man has ever run: that of giving value to his body, a price to his life” (Lamb 135). Government and medical experts should design policies for the sale of organs, which maintain respect for the human body. Instead of living human organ transplantation's alternative methods such as xenografts or artificial organs could be introduced. Xenograft is when the organs of genetically related animals, such as a chimpanzee, are used to save human lives. Moreover, counterfeit teeth and pseudo legs are being used for many parts around the world, so, the development of artificial organs can also benefit the humanity and be a major solution to the ethical problems associated with live inter-human transplantations. So, the sale of human organs should not be legalized as it could lead to serious problems like kidnappings, the economic gap between rich and poor, moral dilemmas and long-term effects of the living and health standards.
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