Should There Be a Financial Market in Human Body Parts?

With the advent of technology that is capable of successfully harvesting organs from both live and cadaver donors, along with biological and genetic engineering advances, physicians are increasingly placed in positions of either referring patients for transplant, or entering into that arena themselves. Physician and hospital integration into this brave new world necessitates they both understand not only the technology that is available to them, but also the manner in which the cultural views of society evolve over time. It is also incumbent upon every human being to be aware of the importance of fundamental changes in their culture that have the potential to give or withhold life itself. One of the notions that often reverberates throughout modern society begs the question of why there is not a financial market for human body parts.

Arguments in favor of keeping transplantation within the realm of a gift are strong and continue to dominate the field of organ donation. In the not too distant past, organ donation was thought to be especially horrific because it was considered to be mutilation of the dead. Since respect for the dead has always been intrinsic to the human spirit, there was great resistance to the initial concept of donating organs. The medical term for this procedure is harvesting and that term itself made the concept of organ donation and transplantation all the more difficult for the general public to accept. Yet, today, all major religions support organ donation. Gone is the concept of mutilation of the dead. In its place is the concept of the gift of life.

While the obvious benefit of organ donation is the saving of lives for some and the restoring of the quality of life for others, an unexpected benefit of this selfless act has been its effect on the grieving process of the families. Nothing can stop the grieving process, but family members seem to be better able to cope with their loss if their loved one was able to give this ultimate gift of life to others. Even though the confidentiality of both the donor and recipient families is protected, the donor family knows the death of their loved one has had an enormous impact on the lives of perhaps more than one other family.

The same unexpected positive benefit of having performed a selfless act is present in the case of non-vital organ donation. Not only does the organ recipient receive the benefit of improved quality of life, but the donor, along with society as a whole, receives a sense of wholeness, a sense of each member having value beyond themselves as a part of the fabric of what it means to be human. This is an intangible benefit that has had a profound effect on changing the perception of society toward the entire notion of transplantation.

The ethical issues surrounding the development of a market for human body parts are currently hotly debated. Transplantation has moved far beyond the single issue of harvesting a few vital organs from those who have died. Today, some transplantation requires only a few cells, and the question asking why it would not be acceptable for donors to receive compensation for transplantation, especially of non-vital body parts, once more sits in the middle of the ethical table and insists upon being resolved yet again.

For those who have a social conscience, organ donation should be a normal and natural act. It is the last action they can take in a life they value, for the benefit of a community they value. For those who are religious, organ donation should be just as serious an obligation. For the religious, believing that God created life and understanding that organ donation is an act of preserving life, organ donation should be an absolute responsibility. If there was a financial market for non-vital organ donation, the pre-donation screening process could easily weed out those individuals who are elevating their donation of non-vital organs to the level of pathological religiosity, thus completely removing one of the arguments in favor of not creating a financial market for human organs.

However, there are two characteristics of organ donation that would tend to preclude its entrance into the realm of financial reward for all time. First, organ donation always requires at least some degree of invasive procedure; and second, organ donation is a personal matter that is reserved for individuals and their family members. This is an issue that should be well thought out by each person while they are healthy and well so that their decision can be as rational and well founded as possible. With the information available today and considering the advanced state of medical technology, it is believed that all individuals have the potential to make a personal decision to become an organ donor. This would completely, and for all time, remove the inappropriate spector of the physician or hospital as client/broker in a financial market for human organs.