It seems to me that most criticisms of organ sales are based on the postmortem sale of organs. Robert is right that this creates some perverse incentives. A way to remedy this problem is to allow only the seller of the organ to be compensated prior to death. That is, "Here's $1000, we get your organs when you die." The fee paid could be based on risk and health factors.
JC _________________________ John-Charles Bradbury, Ph.D. Department of Economics The University of the South 735 University Ave. Sewanee, TN 37383 -1000 Phone: (931) 598-1721 Fax: (931) 598-1145 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Robert A. Book" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, February 15, 2002 3:02 PM Subject: Sale of Organs > This topic seems to be near-and-dear to the "heart" of free-market > economists everywhere.... > > It seems the U.S. might actually allow the sale of human organs for > transplant in the near future. This raises some interesting issues. > On the one hand, obviously we should expect the quantity of organs > supplied to increase if payment is allowed, and this is clearly good > for recipients who are willing to pay. The story is at: > > http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&u=/nm/20020214/hl_nm/wan nabuyanorgan_1 > > (I'm appending the text below.) > > On the other hand, there are some disturbing "agency" issues involved. > For example, family members expecting payment for organs might > authorize less-aggressive medical treatment than the patient might > prefer, at a time when the patient may not be able to speak for > him/herself. Essentially, this would be people "stealing" the organs > when the "owner" is unable to prevent theft. This is probably already > a problem for people with large estates and relatives who like money > more than people; alloing organ sales will expand this problem to more > people. > > Also, organs might be removed before people are really dead; after > all, if there is profit in declaring people dead, there will be more > erring on the side of declaring death in cases where there is room for > debate. This is already a problem with organ-donation of the type > authorized on driver's licenses; allowing payment will simply expand > the class of people with such motivation to include relatives as well > as doctors, and will increase the overall incentive to declare people > dead. > > So, despite the fact that I am generally a free-market advocate, I > think allowing this particular market raises all sorts of complicated > ethical issues which can be boiled down to "property rights" issues -- > in other words, who owns a person's organs? That person, or his/her > relatives? Who owns a person's life, in the sense of having the right > to declare someone dead in questionable cases, and/or authorize > treatment in questionable cases? If I write an advance directive that > says I want all possible extreme measures to save my life, can someone > else over-ride that, let me die, and then sell my organs for profit? > > > > --Robert Book [EMAIL PROTECTED] > University of Chicago > > > ============================================================ > > http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=594&u=/nm/20020214/hl_nm/wan nabuyanorgan_1 > > > > Doctors, Government May Allow Payment > for Organs > Thu Feb 14,10:18 AM ET > > NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The medical community and the federal > government are edging closer to allowing payment for body parts needed > for transplants, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. > > Such compensation was outlawed by Congress in 1984, but with 79,000 > people awaiting transplants, a committee of the American Medical > Association has begun designing a pilot program to test the effects of > various motivators, including payments for organ donations from > cadavers, the Journal said. > > The committee, the AMA's influential Council on Ethical and Judicial > Affairs, is already convinced that any moral concerns about payments > for organs are outweighed by the needs of patients, the Journal said. > > The AMA's governing house of delegates is slated to vote on whether to > support such a pilot in June, the Journal said. > > An advisory committee to US Health and Human Services (news - web > sites) Secretary Tommy Thompson is also considering whether to > recommend that the ban on payments be lifted for organs from cadavers > and live donors as a way to alleviate the organ shortage, the Journal > said. > > The American Society of Transplant Surgeons has already endorsed > payment for cadaveric organs to the families of the deceased, the > Journal said. >
