The Need for an Organ Market

I meant to blog about this weeks back, but it slipped through the cracks. A great letter to the editor was published in the Chicago Tribune in November about the need for a market for organ donors. It doesn't get much more succinct and powerful than this:

Thousands have died through the years waiting for transplants because the National Organ Transplant Act forbids the sale of human organs. To significantly decrease the shortage of organs, this murderous law must be repealed and the trade in organs decriminalized. If the law recognizes our right to give away an organ, it should also recognize our right to sell an organ. And if the law recognizes our right to pay for a life-saving medical treatment, it should also recognize our right to pay for a life-saving organ for transplant.

Those able to pay for organs would benefit at no one's expense but their own. Those unable to pay would still rely on charity, as they have done to this day. Moreover, those able to buy organs would drop out of the waiting list, increasing the chances of those remaining to obtain the organs they need.

If the legitimate rights of potential buyers and sellers of organs were protected, many of the 95,000 people waiting for organs would be spared much suffering and escape an early death. How many? Let's find out.