Why is it illegal to sell your own internal organs?

Question

I can see the downside of this, where only the rich would get the organs, but what if it went into a blood bank type thing. Then it would be distributed by the hospital to the next person on the list?

And like the blood, it would be screened and tested for diseases.

Answer 1

In theory, it protects the poor from being coerced or tempted into selling their organs. There's also a common perception (self-serving, pretentious and false IMNSHO) that organ donation has to be a 'gift' and it's somehow 'wrong' for you to benefit from it. (Please don't let me get started on that.)

In practice, the restriction allows *EVERYONE EXCEPT THE DONOR* to benefit; the doctor who 'harvests' the organs, the people who operate the match databases, the people who transport them, and especially the guy who puts it into the recipient. (A heart-lung-liver transplant takes about 20 hours but nets over $100,000; do one a week and you can make $5 MILLION a year.)

The organ transplant business - and it is a business now - is a huge moneymaker for high end hospitals. Enough so that many hospitals now hire 'counselors' whose only job is to use emotional manipulation to convince vulnerable grieving families to sign over the parts of their deceased (and often not so deceased) loved ones. It's enough of a profit maker that China makes a large scale practice of manufacturing political offenses to arrest and execute people for, so that their tissues and organs can be sold on the international market.

If people were allowed to sell their organs - either in life or for the benefit of their estate - the supply would increase exponentially; but then the profits, especially of the 'gatekeeper' agencies, would plummet in turn. And we can't have *that* now can we?

Answer 2

This is an interesting question .I wonder if it may be because hospitals are afraid they might find themselves in court .With all people who donate organs wanting paid or their survivores for organs .The way it is now hospitals get all the money for organs .I dont know how much a person with head trama that has an entire body full of organs that can be tranplanted .But I would guess about 1 million dollars .The survivors should get paid for organs from their family members .With the extreme prices people who get them are charged by hospitals .It makes me wonder if you are an organ donor .Say you are unemployed and don't have insurance .You have an accident where it could be border line if you will make it or not .If you dont make it your organs would be worth several hundred thousand dollars or more profit to a hospital .If you do live ,you would be a liability to the hospital for maybe a hundred thousand dollar debt they know they will never be able to collect .This might be hypothetical .But don't kid yourself into thinking there aren't people and places that are aware of these things .Espeacially if a hospital is in financial turmoil anyway . I'm not saying this is the case .(Knowing how greedy and unscrupulous humans can be ) It makes me think twice about being an organ donor .Not having insurance .Alot of people die in hospitals all the time unexpectedly . Much less some one that is borderline any way .If survivors recieved some of the money for organs . Who usually can use it for a funeral and settling estates .Instead of hospitals getting it all ,it would probably cause more people to donate organs and reduce the chances of this being a possibility .Then again the way I've seen some families act to get someones money and possesions after they die
.You might have to worry about them making sure you die anyway. ha ha

Answer 3

It's actually more wrong to be able to sell the organs as that would create an even greater black market. People would kill other people just to get their organs. Desperate people would kill their family members and then sell their organs. It would be Total chaos. I also wondered about this, but when I thought about it, it would result in an even greater problem. People would sell organs they actually need just because they're in some sort of debt. This would be tremendously inhumane, and it can not be allowed! Think of all the family members that would kill themselves just to pay off a family debt. It would be horrible...

Answer 4

Because you're potentially hurting yourself for money- which is unethical. Doctors cannot allow this, unless you're dead already, in which case- if you're a donor, they'll take your organs, and put them to good use. This also, like you said, leaves room for only the rich (not necessarily those people who need the organs the most) to recieve organs.

Answer 5

I think it's so hospitals have a monopoly. I think it would be kind of cool if I could sell my organs. I'd make bank and they could have like organ supermarkets and sell lungs next to cartons of cigs.

Answer 6

unlike blood, which will detect traces of drug abuse/deterioration...

organ's would probably not be able to detect such things as easily.
therefore, severe drug addicts would start selling their 'soon-to-fail' organs to buy heroine/crack.

before blood was screened and tested... drug addicts used to flock to Hospitals to sell blood for 15 dollars so they could go buy heroine or something...

many people ended up dieing because of it.

Answer 7

Because the rich would have you killed and bypass the hospitals if you had what they needed.

Answer 8

duhhhh