Mmmm--kidneys

I'm with Val MacQueen

I propose that it would be far better to have a trade in kidneys regulated so the more powerful buyer cannot take advantage of the poor, who often sell an organ to pay off debts. And there is no conceivable reason such trade should be limited to developing countries. Once there was an open market in the West, kidneys for transplant would become freely available.

Such legalization and regulation would benefit the entire kidney transplant industry, in that the person who receives the purchased kidney frees up a space in the dialysis queue for the next in line. And the individual who sold the kidney has the money he needs or wants.

Considering the number of patients who could have their lives prolonged by receiving a transplant, and that there are not enough freely donated organs, and given that the pressure put on newly bereaved families will only increase, is there a rational or humanitarian reason not to allow trade in organs on the open market? America already sanctions the selling of blood. Why not other bodily constituents?