My opinion about organ black market

I apologize for my absence and the delay… I came down with a cold.

 

Today, nearly 120,000 people are waiting for an organ in the United States, and just one donor has the ability to save up to 8 lives. Unfortunately the demand for transplant organs is far outstrips the supply… More than 30 patients die every day while waiting. As the result, the organ black market has expanded all around the world. Approximately 7,000 kidneys are illegally harvested annually by traffickers. Sometimes organs are harvested from a living victim for compensation. In the worst case it involves kidnapping or murder…
Donors of organs include usually impoverished citizens who are tempted to sell one of their kidneys to earn money, and victims of human trafficking are young children from developing countries in most cases. For example In 2012, a young African girl was kidnapped and brought to the UK for the sole purpose of harvesting her organs…

I think that the problem of organ donation is very complex.
First I’ll consider about the solution to resolve this problem and then, I’ll give my opinion about the human trafficking.

The expansion of illegal black market is related to the organ shortage crisis. In other word, the best solution to fight against illegal trade is to tackle the problem of organ shortage.
The Organ Transplant Law only allows donation in the case of brain death and with prior written consent, as well as the consent of the donor’s family. Furthermore transferring any human organ for human transplantation in exchange for money or consideration is against the law and can be punished with prison time.
Such restrictive rules contribute significantly to the deterioration of the organ shortage crisis. Making a radical amendment of the present Code is required.
I strongly believe that developing an altruistic system of donation from a living donor to an unknown recipient (obtaining organs from the living and the dead donor), and accepting the concept of a rewarded donor system (a paid donor model) will be a very effective remedy.

Now, I’ll give you my opinion about the organ black market.
For a utilitarian the measure of right and wrong is “the greatest happiness of the greatest number”. According to this theory, the proper course of action is the one that maximizes total benefit and reduces suffering. Consequently “saving 8 lives at the expense of one” is good. Personally I don’t like this argument because it ignores justice.

However we have to keep in mind that WE DON’T DESERVE TO SAY “I think human trafficking is a terrible business” because deep inside us we ABSOLUTELY don’t care about this.
Contrary to our hypocritical ideal, there are too many unfair affair in the world provoked by our egoism.
In the Southern Hemisphere, people die of hunger, in contrast in the northern hemisphere, many people die from obesity…
On the one hand there are people in underdeveloped country victim of illegal organ harvesting, in the other hand there are people in developed country who obtain their organs via an international black market web.

We always assume the air of indifference and we pretend not to see the existence of poor people in the world because we don’t want to admit that we are a cruel egoistic person. We all know that there are lot of people in the world who don’t have access to clean water, but we pretend not to see, and instead of helping them we hunt for expensive clothes to go to party.
Every one know that there are some poor children who are victims of human trafficking, but instead of extending them a helping hand (by donating money for instance) they run to Apple Store to buy the current iPhone model.

It is very easy to act or speak like a ethical upright man, but in bottom we are absolutely not interested in another people’s misfortune.
The cruel and immoral organ black market has grown in response to our selfish demand (supply and demand theory). We often imagine that illegal organ brokers are the only evil, but it is a serious misunderstanding. We should keep in mind that we all are indirect wrongdoers, and potential black market consumer.

Think about this case:
Your parents are affected by a serious disease. To survive your parents need an organ transplant surgery, but you learned that the organ intended to be used come from an illegal trade market.
Would you be able to cancel the operation to contribute to the eradication of illegal trades (if no demand no supply)?
At least I wouldn’t.
Our selfishness, that is the true culprit not organ blocker.

 

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