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Dr. Gavin Carney
Doctor Advocates Government - Sponsored Organ Market
May 06, 2008 10:42 AM
by
findingDulcinea Staff
by Emily Coakley
An Australian doctor has ignited controversy by suggesting the government pay up to $47,000 for kidney donations to combat the country’s low donation rate.
An Australian doctor has ignited controversy by suggesting the government pay up to $47,000 for kidney donations to combat the country’s low donation rate.
30-Second Summary
Gavin Carney, a kidney doctor in Australia, has suggested that financial incentives from the government will encourage more people to give up a kidney. Less than one-fifth of Australians needing kidneys received donations last year.
“Let’s pay people some money for a new car or a house deposit and those [kidney transplant] waiting lists will be halved within about five years,” he said, according to AFP.
Chris Thomas, head of Transplant Australia, disagreed with the proposal. “It really focuses on the poor and people who are least able to pay for things in society. They get attracted to these types of things,” Thomas said, according to AFP.
Tim Dunlop of the Blogocracy Blog, says his initial reaction is to oppose organ sales, but an unnamed blogger at American Buddhist Net feels differently.
“I always feel suspicious about arguments that oppose giving money to the poor because it will ‘exploit’ them,” the ABN blogger wrote. “The poor sell their labor, health, and more to the rich, so why not their kidneys? The way to end the stigma of exploitation is raise the price for the kidney.”
Across the world, as in Australia, demand for organs far exceeds supply. The Philippines has banned organ transplants to most foreigners, while people in India have had their kidneys stolen to meet black market demands.
“Let’s pay people some money for a new car or a house deposit and those [kidney transplant] waiting lists will be halved within about five years,” he said, according to AFP.
Chris Thomas, head of Transplant Australia, disagreed with the proposal. “It really focuses on the poor and people who are least able to pay for things in society. They get attracted to these types of things,” Thomas said, according to AFP.
Tim Dunlop of the Blogocracy Blog, says his initial reaction is to oppose organ sales, but an unnamed blogger at American Buddhist Net feels differently.
“I always feel suspicious about arguments that oppose giving money to the poor because it will ‘exploit’ them,” the ABN blogger wrote. “The poor sell their labor, health, and more to the rich, so why not their kidneys? The way to end the stigma of exploitation is raise the price for the kidney.”
Across the world, as in Australia, demand for organs far exceeds supply. The Philippines has banned organ transplants to most foreigners, while people in India have had their kidneys stolen to meet black market demands.
Headline Links: The organ market
More than 1,800 people in Australia are waiting for a kidney transplant, but fewer than 350 kidneys were donated last year, according to AFP.
Source: AFP
Some Australians waiting for kidneys travel to Pakistan and other countries for a transplant. The Sydney Morning Herald tells the story of Ibrahim El-Sheikh, who plans to leave his family in Canberra and go to Pakistan, where he’ll pay $27,000 for a kidney transplant. “I’m not happy about a poor person selling their kidney, but if I don't do this, I don’t think I have long to live,” El-Sheikh told the paper.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Opinion & Analysis: Cases for and against organ sales
Dunlop fears the implications of a government-run system leading to a private organ market: “Once that happens, the organ is worth what someone would be willing to pay and presumably the price would sky-rocket. This would dry up donors for the government system—why sell to the government for $50,000 if you can get $500,000 from an individual? This in turn means that, pretty much, only the rich would be able to get a transplant.”
Source: News.com.au
ABN says people seeking a kidney should have to give up as much as half their wealth to the donor to equalize their wealth. “Sellers should be able to offer their kidneys for minimum bids—say $47,000 to as high as you like. Buyers would have no choice but to make the seller financially equal to themselves. Many of us might consider offering a kidney for a minimum bid of $1 billion and few would feel exploited if someone bought it.”
Source: American Buddhist
Related Topics: The steps being taken to alleviate organ shortages
Last year, most kidneys transplanted in the Philippines went to wealthy Middle Eastern tourists. In an effort to have more transplants benefit Filipinos, the government there has banned organ transplants for people that aren’t citizens or related to a citizen.
Source: findingDulcinea
In India, a clinic allegedly lured men in with promises of work and then removed their kidneys without their permission. Though some were paid, the kidneys were sold for many times the amount the men received.
Source: findingDulcinea
© 2009 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
