Introduce, Discuss, and Analyze The Ethics of Selling Organs
The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the essays "The Body Bazaar" by Karen Wright and "'Strip-Mining' the Dead: When Human Organs Are for Sale" by Gilbert Meilaender. Specifically, it will compare and contrast the writers' perspectives on selling and transplanting body organs. The moral and ethical issues surrounding human organ transplant and sale are many, and many of them are ingrained with society's fear of death, dying, and money. Some people feel it is incomprehensible to even think about selling or donating a loved ones organs after death, but there are thousands of transplant patients waiting for organs or they will die - and there lies the moral dilemma.Families of transplant patients waiting desperately for transplants so they can survive are always emotional and heart wrenching. Equally moving are the stories of families who donate their loved ones vital organs after a tragic accident trying to find some meaning in their loved ones' untimely deaths. Yet millions of transplant victims are
She notes, "In this country, organs cannot be sold for transplant, but the charges surrounding a donated organ can run into tens of thousands of dollars" (Wright 476). Wright's arguments, on the other hand, center on the big-business aspects of buying and selling body organs, tissues, and even cells, and what that means for society as a whole. She also notes that we are not nearly so squeamish about selling or donating blood, and that has been a common practice for many years. People in need of transplants should have the ability to find suitable organs more easily, and America needs to get over its squeamishness about buying and selling body organs, or it will become a black-market business that is even more distressing (Wright claims it already has in some areas of the world). Meilaender discusses a policy in Pennsylvania that pays loved ones for donating organs from their deceased family members. These two authors discuss the ethics and morality of donating organs, but they also discuss another aspect of organ transplant, the sale of donor organs for profit, something that most people are much more squeamish about even considering. This certainly would not cover the cost of a funeral, but it might be an incentive for some. Author Meilaender notes, "It's not hard to understand our national reluctance to permit the buying and selling of human organs for transplant, for it expresses a repugnance that is deeply rooted in important moral sentiments" (Meilaender). In contrast, Wright's essay at first discusses body part harvesting as a business just like any other. Some people are squeamish about even thinking about transplanting body organs, while others view it matter-of-factly as another measure of survival and medical breakthroughs. Ultimately, Meilaender believes that "strip-mining" bodies for useful organs should not be allowed, because human beings should not be bought and sold. Wright continues, "But organs are still in desperately short supply, and thousands of people die each year waiting for transplants" (Wright 477). However, Wright discusses frankly the high cost of transporting and obtaining donor organs.
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