Kidney Shortage Inspires A Radical Idea: Organ Sales

Wall Street Hournal ^ | November 13, 2007 | LAURA MECKLER

[leadpencil1]

Amid a severe kidney-donor shortage, an idea long considered anathema in the medical community is gaining new currency: payments for people willing to give up a kidney.

One of the most outspoken voices on the topic isn't a free-market libertarian, but a prominent transplant surgeon named Arthur Matas.

Dr. Matas, 59 years old, is a Canadian-born physician best known for his research at the University of Minnesota. Lately, he's been traveling the country trying to make the case that barring kidney sales is tantamount to sentencing some patients to death.

"There's one clear argument for sales," Dr. Matas told a gathering of surgeons earlier this year. The practice, currently illegal in the U.S., "would increase the supply of kidneys, save lives and improve the quality of life for those with end-stage renal disease."

[leadpencil1]

Interesting take and one that should be piloted here in the states.

[dynachrome]

They can have my right one. 4 kidney stones so far, and symptoms of a fifth once in awhile.

[Mr_Moonlight]

[Gay State Conservative]

When Walter Williams fills in for Rush he often talks about this.And he makes a pretty good case.”If I can’t claim my kidneys as my own exactly what can I claim to be mine?” is his basic attitude.

[goldstategop]

I will donate my kidney for $100 million dollars.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[BipolarBob]

They can have my right one. 4 kidney stones so far, and symptoms of a fifth once in awhile.

It's that fifth every once in a while that'll do it.

[rocksblues]

"Payments eventually result in the exploitation of the individual," says Dr. Delmonico, who also worries about encouraging black-market sales both here and in developing countries. "It's the poor person who sells."

A real progressive view.

[dynachrome]

“fifth every once in a while”
That’s how I keep the left one cleaned out!

[goldstategop]

Yeah, really. Capitalism sucks, according to our medical socialists. No wonder there's an organ donor shortage.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[leadpencil1]

[weegee]

In China it isn’t the poor person who sells. It is the imprisoned person who is forced to give up an organ for the State.

[Mr_Moonlight]

OK, I'll see your "first powered flight" and raise you a Hammond B3 with Leslie tone cabinet ........

[weegee]

A woman has a right to control “her” body even when that means terminating a separate life at the end of an umbilical cord. But you don’t have the “right” to sell an organ to the highest bidder because...

[leadpencil1]

Good one! LOL

[ari-freedom]

I just don’t want trade for the organs of dead people. That will lead to doctors not doing everything they can to save lives in order to make money on their organs.

[PAR35]

http://www.organclearinghouse.com/

[ichabod1]

It seems to me that in the organ donation process, including blood, everybody dips their beak except for the donor. That’s wrong.

I understand the counter argument though. It creates an incentive for people do do things that may not be good for them for short term financial benefits.

[GGpaX4DumpedTea]

“They can have my right one. 4 kidney stones so far, and symptoms of a fifth once in awhile.”

It is likely not your right kidney’s fault.

[ichabod1]

An organ recital is what old people give when you ask them how they are. They recite the condition of their organs.

[dynachrome]

Somehow calcium is not processed right. I looked at one of the buggers under a microscope at work. Ugly looking little stone.