Posted by Jonathan Adler:
Ending Kidney Corruption:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_07_26-2009_08_01.shtml#1248734227
[1]Sally Satel thinks politicians are drawing the wrong lessons from
the connection between clandestine kidney brokering and the New Jersey
public corruption busts.
According to a federal criminal complaint filed in district court
in New Jersey, Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn conspired to broker
the sale of a human kidney for a transplant. The cost was $160,000
to the recipient of the transplant, of which the donor got $10,000.
According to the complaint, Mr. Rosenbaum said he had brokered such
sales many times over the past 10 years.
�That it could happen in this country is so shocking,� said Dr.
Bernadine Healy, former head of the Red Cross.
No, it isn�t. When I needed a kidney several years ago and had no
donor in sight, I would have considered doing business with someone
like Mr. Rosenbaum. The current law�the National Organ Transplant
Act of 1984�gave me little choice. I would be a felon if I
compensated a donor who was willing to spare me years of
life-draining dialysis and premature death.
The early responses to the New Jersey scandal leave me dismayed,
though not surprised. �We really have to crack down,� the
co-director of the Joint Council of Europe/United Nations Study on
Trafficking in Organs and Body Parts told MSNBC. That strategy is
doomed, of course. It ignores the time-tested fact that efforts to
stamp out underground markets either drive corruption further
underground or causes it to flourish elsewhere.
The illicit organ trade is booming across the globe. It will only
recede when the critical shortage of organs for transplants
disappears. The best way to make that happen is to give legitimate
incentives to people who might be willing to donate. Instead, I
fear that Congress will merely raise the penalties for underground
organ sales without simultaneously establishing a legal mechanism
to incentivize donors.
Dr. Satel was lucky to have a generous friend in [2]Virginia Postrel
who was willing to donate a kidney, many others are not so lucky. As
Postrel [3]wrote in The Atlantic:
Living donation is a low-risk procedure for the donor that offers
life-changing rewards for the recipient. Yet the donor is the only
person involved in the process who receives no compensation.
�There�s no reason that someone who does this should not get
something substantial that will make a difference in their lives,�
says David. To people who like to celebrate living donors as
heroes, payment seems terribly crass. But the vicarious thrill of
someone else�s altruism comes at a terrible cost.
Our current system is perverse. We encourage the needy with means to
travel abroad (so-called "transplant tourism") and the desperate to
enter the criminal underworld. Overall, fewer people are saved.
Allowing payments to donors may be crass, but it is also more
compassionate to those in need.
References
1.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204886304574307932274150934.html
2. http://www.dynamist.com/articles-speeches/opeds/kidney.html
3.
file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/volokh/posts/Living%20donation%20is%20a%20low-risk%20procedure%20for%20the%20donor%20that%20offers%20life-changing%20rewards%20for%20the%20recipient.%20Yet%20the%20donor%20is%20the%20only%20person%20involved%20in%20the%20process%20who%20receives%20no%20compensation.%20%E2There%E2s%20no%20reason%20that%20someone%20who%20does%20this%20should%20not%20get%20something%20substantial%20that%20will%20make%20a%20difference%20in%20their%20lives,%E2%20says%20David.%20To%20people%20who%20like%20to%20celebrate%20living%20donors%20as%20heroes,%20payment%20seems%20terribly%20crass.%20But%20the%20vicarious%20thrill%20of%20someone%20else%E2s%20altruism%20comes%20at%20a%20terrible%20cost.
_______________________________________________
Volokh mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
