After her gall bladder surgery, Ruth Sparrow had a serious problem. The problem was not her health. The surgery was successful, and she was recuperating well. The problem was money. Her bill was close to $20,000, but she had no insurance and no savings to fall back on. Then she thought of a creative way of solving her problem. She offered one of her kidneys to the hospital. “I will give you a kidney, if you’ll mark my bill paid in full,” she told hospital administrators at Bayfront Medical Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.
The hospital turned her down. Ruth had another idea, though. She placed an ad in a local newspaper: “Kidney runs good. Taking offers. $30,000 or best offer.” While some of the responses were crank calls, several people took her ad seriously and called to ask her blood type. Before the ad had run its three-day span, however, it was pulled by the newspaper, who explained that only duly licensed agencies can run ads for organ donations. In addition, it is illegal to sell your organs, and in Florida it is a felony. Federal and state laws prohibit buying or selling of a human organ or tissue.
Recently a quiet campaign has arisen to convince the public to rethink the issue. With thousands of people on waiting lists for organ transplants, there are not enough donations to go around. Some advocates of financial reimbursement believe that more Americans would donate their organs if there were some incentive to do so. Lloyd Cohen, of George Mason University, has pointed out that a great deal of money is made on transplant operations. Hospitals, doctors, and drug companies all benefit-why not the donor?
How might this be done? Healthy people might contract to have their organs sold after death, with the money going to their family. Funeral or hospital expenses could be covered by donation of an organ after death.
Ruth Sparrow thought that if people could advertise the use of their eggs or sperm for a price, or even the use of their uteruses (surrogacy), she should be able to do the same with her kidney. “I have an organ here that could save a life,” she said. “I’ve got two kidneys, one I could do without.”
Questions(Answer according to Kantian Ethics)
Was Ruth Sparrow wrong to try to sell her kidney? Why or why not?
Give three reasons that some people would be against payment for organ donation.
Recently, charges were brought against two Chinese citizens for trying to sell the organs of men sentenced to death in Chinese prisons. Human rights activists are not sure that the prisoners consented to have their organs removed after death. The Chinese claim they use only volunteers. Explain how you feel about this practice, and why.
In a recent newscast, a woman was asked if she would accept a kidney from a prisoner on death row. She said, “I wouldn’t, because I’d be afraid I’d get his personality.” Is she wrong or right?
