Transcript The Market for Human Organs

The Market for
Human Organs
Sandra Abdelmalak
Stephanie Chen
Jenny Young
HOW would this market work?
 Like markets for semen, human eggs,
and surrogate wombs.
 Free market
 sales by living donors
 sales of future interests in organs
 to be removed on the death of the
donors
 sales of organs of a recently deceased
person by the family of the deceased
In a market…
 The demand curve is
likely to be relatively
inelastic.
 The quantity
supplied is more
likely to be
responsive to
changes in price.
Why ISN’T there a market
for organs already?
 Uniform Anatomical Gift Act put the
government in charge of organ
transplantation
 National Organ Transplant Act in 1984
banned the sale of human organs from
either dead or living donors in the United
States.
WHY is there a
need for a market?
1. Limit of supply/SHORTAGE
2. Number of donors
falling/lack of incentives
3. Eliminate black markets
Kidneys needed
Kidneys transplanted
Ratio
75,000
18,000
1/4
 4,000 will die waiting
 1,200 will become too sick and develop complications
making it impossible to endure a transplant
 according to a 2006 Scientific Registry of
Transplant Recipients report
6660
6647
6640
6620
6600
6580
6563
6560
6540
6520
Number of
Living
Kidney
Donors
2004
2005
According to the nonprofit
United Network for Organ
Sharing [UNOS]
 Despite increases, an
average of 15 people
still die every day
waiting for an organ
Cadaveric Donors
1989
2000
4,011
5,984
according to the U.S.
Department of Health and
Human Services [HSS]
Number of women and children on
the national organ transplantation
waiting list
1991
2001
55,382
75,863
Living Donors
1989
2000
1,918
5,532
ISSUES with the
market of organs
Ethical Issues
 defining death
 Organ allocation
amongst patients
 Organs for
prisoners
 religious
controversy
Political Issues
 exploiting the
poor
 benefiting the
rich
Human Rights Issues
 the danger of selling organs
 using the organs of executed prisoners
 who should be allowed to sell their
organs
OTHER problems
with a market
Organ Theft
 Practice of illicitly removing/stealing
people's organs via surgery or in their
death for further purposes
 Almost become a “spoil of war” for those in
China, India, etc.
 Many horror stories surrounding this.
Black Market
 Why? Not enough
supply to meet
demand.
 Illegal but is thriving
 Huge demand for
organs increases its
prices
 provide organs to
wealthy, but it’s the
poor who sell
Online human organ sales
 Buyers and sellers who
could reach mutually
agreeable prices over
internet could
eliminate shortage –
Steve Dasbach
 More lives can be
saved (hypothetically)
 Banned, ex: eBAY
Reasons that the
Market CAN Work!
 In countries like India and Brazil, people sell
their organs which generate a high demand.
No one wants to sit on a hospital bed waiting
when they can just BUY their ticket home!
 Transplant Tourism
Reasons the Market
Might NOT Work!
 In January 2006, Iowa
passed legislation
allowing income-tax
credit when donating
 BUT! Only 13 percent of
donors said an incometax credit was a reason
for their donations,
according to a study
from Canada's National
Survey of Giving,
Volunteering, and
Participating.
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90632108
 Sally Satel, a
psychiatrist and
resident scholar at
the American
Enterprise Institute
who received a
kidney from a
friend in 2006,
says:
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90632108
 James Childress,
professor of ethics at
the University of
Virginia and chairman
of the Institute of
Medicine committee
that produced the 2006
report "Organ
Donation:
Opportunities for
Action," says:
Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90632108
 Francis
Delmonico,
professor of surgery
at Harvard Medical
School and adviser
to the World Health
Organization on
transplantation,
says: