How do we go about defining what is our property after our death? Sure, when people are expecting their death they may create a will, and those that do not expect death simply have their possessions handed over to family. This can be related to how people are registered organ-donors on their driver’s license. You are already predetermined to give your organs to one of the 114,000 people waiting. So, does this mean you can only donate organs once you have died? After all, you can donate any of your materialistic possessions well before you write a will.
The human body is resilient. You can function normally with one lung, one kidney, one eye, some intestines, and just a portion of your liver. And considering you are constantly regenerating skin and blood cells, your body is a factory. If you were to sell every part organ and chemical in your body, you could make millions (theoretically), however you won’t exactly be around to use the $1,000,000 you’d get from your heart alone.
Kidneys could potentially sell for over $250,000, however, black market pricing and “hush money” required to keep the deal safe leaves the donor with only about 5-10%. According to the Organ Trafficking Prohibition, organ transplants must abide by certain laws: the donor must know who specifically the are supplying their organ to; the donor must not receive compensation or benefits of any kind. However, these laws are no longer considered when a person’s death is pronounced and they are an organ-donor. So therefore, if you can consent to you organs being harvested after death, should you be allowed to consent to them being harvested while you are alive? If the government were to offer compensation for people to have one kidney removed, thousands of patients in renal failure would live longer. Additionally, by having a legal market, the value of a black market kidney would fall and there would be less “hushed up” surgeries that could endanger a donor desperate for money.
The Organ Trafficking Prohibition defines an organ as “the human (including fetal) kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas, bone marrow, cornea, eye, bone, and skin or any subpart thereof and any other human organ (or any subpart thereof, including that derived from a fetus).”
Now, I’m not condoning selling organs to pay for college, but there are still some ways to make money.
First, you can sell plasma (the liquid part of your blood) for about $30-$60 per session. Second, sperm and eggs are needed for some families to have children ($35-$75 for men and $8,000-14,000 for women per donation). Lastly, you can dona
te bone marrow; this is a bit more of a complicated procedure, but one desperately needed for patients with leukemia or lymphoma as it contains Stem cells. You could be paid about $250-$700 depending on the cell type.
Overall, it is legal to donate and/or sell cells that regenerate quickly in your body. However, the debate still continues for organs that can also regenerate such as the liver. While it comes down to bodily autonomy, should being an organ donor allow you to sell organs if you choose to?
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic below and if you are/are not an organ donor and why!
Sources:
https://www.seeker.com/how-much-are-your-body-parts-worth-1792475763.html
This was a great blog post! I am registered as an organ donor, but I had never looked into how much I could sell any of my organs for. I never realized how pricey they were on the black market, but this would make sense given how vital and demanded they are. It is interesting that you can sell certain parts of your body like STEM cells, but not others like your kidney. It seems like this is a good thing though because we would not want poor people putting their lives at risky for a little bit of money. This was a great blog post which really got me thinking. Thanks for sharing!
This was really interesting to read! It’s insane how much our organs can sell; it’s almost gruesome, especially on the black market. My boyfriend actually looked into selling his plasma, but my dad is a doctor and as soon as he explained it, I said absolutely not. The idea just scares me a little, even though it does seem to be safe. I honestly don’t remember if I chose to be an organ donor, I think that when I got my Ohio drivers license I said no, but when I changed to the Pennsylvania one I said yes.
Wow, I do think if people want to sell their organs, as long as It doesn’t harm them, they should be able to. But it is already good that they are able to donate their cells, plasma, and bone marrow. I chose to be an organ donor because I don’t care, and I also think it would be great, if my organs were taken to help others. I was nervous about saying yes to organ donation because of rumors I heard growing up that if you’re an organ donor and you get taken to the hospital the doctors would let you die/not resuscitate you so that they could get your organs. While I do think it is false I was kind of weary about it. I don’t regret becoming an organ donor though because if I’m dead and my organs are useable they should be used to save someone’s life. Great Post!