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Should an organ donor receive payment for an organ donation?
Results so far:
| Yes | 42% | 5 votes | Total: 12 votes | |
| No | 58% | 7 votes |
Yes
by Amanda Banning
Created on: July 11, 2011
Organ Donation. It is called “The Gift of Life”. For the recipient, it is literally the gift of life. For the donor, and the family of the donor, it can reflect a very emotional and painful time. The need for immediate action mandates immediate decisions. The demand is there for organ procurement as noted in the media regarding stories of stolen kidneys that is becoming more and more prominent in the news.
Often, organ donors have advised immediate family of the desire to be a donor while in other cases the surviving family is asked to make immediate decisions on behalf of a loved one who is a potential organ donor. Typically, the donor’s organs are gifted to the recipient. The exchange of money or compensation from the recipient is not required or expected.
Then, there live donors. They are those who are willing to donate organs such as a kidney or a section of their liver, a living egg, or perhaps their bone marrow to improve the quality or simply the possibility of life for another. This is often a last resort for the recipient and usually occurs when their own body has begun to medically decompensate to a critical point of imminent death. Securing organ procurement with intent to keep the recipient alive becomes a primary focus.
Finding a compatible donor amongst family and friends does happen for some, the lucky ones. Others, specifically those without resources, must actively search and procure the needed organ for testing. Many patients and families are helped once they have been placed on a donor list. The medical information provided in this list can be utilized by the team of physicians when a possible donor is suggested. Sounds simple and civilized don’t it? But what happens if the donor wants to be paid for the donation before the recipient receives it? Now, we move from a gifted organ donation to selling the organ to the recipient.
Few would debate the issue of organ donation, but some might debate the ethics and cost of brokering human organs, or medical history and information of the donor to the highest bidder it appears that human organs have become a marketable commodity. Organ donors and brokers could set the amount a kidney or bone marrow is worth and the recipient would have to barter about the price. Simply so he can have a chance to live. Who would make the final decision as to what is an appropriate monetary offer? What information is considered included in the original cost? Will medical history, social and health history, and lifestyle choices be sold as a separate package? The recipient pays for the organ and must pay a second time for the medical and social history of the donor so he knows if the donor’s organs have ever been compromised.
Donating and selling organs is one thing. Then it becomes crucial to know facts about the donor’s complete medical history, social history and lifestyle choices. This information may come with a hefty price tag. The recipient would like to know if the donor partied a lot or used illicit drugs recreationally. Perhaps the scope of the information requested is to rule out the possibility of sexually transmitted diseases, hepatitis and other such illness. The question remains if the organs should be donated or sold for money or other gain. Will there be brokers selling organs to the highest bidder? Will there be offers and counter offers to secure a kidney?
It is feasible to donate or sell body parts. The particulars would have to follow set protocol and adhere to monetary guidelines set forth by a selected governing entity. The entire process should follow mandated and mediated protocol. There should be no margin for personal gain or greed. The donor and the recipient must be completely aware of their rights and responsibilities to themselves and to one another.
Learn more about this author, Amanda Banning.
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No
by Stacey Louise McEvoy
Created on: July 11, 2011
People who choose to donate organs do so out of the goodness of their heart. They do not wish to seek payment, they are risking their lives to save others because they are kind hearted individuals.
If organ donations became profitable, it would turn the whole system into a business. Those on the opposite side of the argument would argue that more people would register to become donors. This of course would be true, many more people would register. However there is a sense of macabre over paying individuals for their body parts. It is a certainty that many people who previously disagreed with organ donation, would probably change their minds with the prospect of pound signs at the end. Yet by paying people for their organs, it is making a mockery of human spirit. This spirit being that humans look out for each other, not for profit, but because we are the same species. There is plenty of evil in this world, yet organ donors show the positive side of humans.
Many people would register to become organ donations, not because they want to help others, but because they see a way of making money. Donating organs should not be taken lightly. There is a risk associated with any organ donation and the whole process can have physical as well as emotional side effects. If a person donates an organ and receives a payment, what is to say that they will not return to donate another organ? The person would return to donate. They will see the process as being a way of making money.
The focus should not entirely be on the donor, but also on the person who receives the donation. Would you feel differently if you knew that you received your kidney because the individual who donated it received a payment? Or would you feel more relief if you knew that you received a second chance in life because a kind hearted individual donated their kidney not out of profit, but out of love and care?
I am a registered organ donor. If a relative were to become ill, I would not wish to donate one of my organs so as to receive a cash payment. I would donate my organ to save them because I love them, not for financial gain. If organ donations were to become payable, how would you regulate how much you pay for a organ donation? Would it be £30,000 for a heart, £10,000 for a kidney? It is ludicrous to turn organ donations into a form of business. This would not only make a mockery of the whole system, but it would also cost the NHS millions of pounds to pay organ donors for their donation. The NHS surely cannot afford to undertake this procedure. If the NHS were unable to fund the payments, then which other regulatory body would make the decisions?
Organ donations should not be done for profit. An organ donor has to go through a huge amount of stress when they choose to help save another persons life. The family of the donor also has to go through emotional stress as donors are risking their own lives. If we decide to start paying people for their kidneys, for their skin tissue and other parts of their body, what will be next on the agenda? Do we start paying families money for their dead relatives bodies? We should accept that organ donors choose to risk their lives because there are still kind, good hearted people in this world. These individuals demonstrate the best of human nature. By paying individuals for their organs, surely we would be showing the worst of humans.
Learn more about this author, Stacey Louise McEvoy.
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