Organs: An Untapped Source

Abstract

A willing seller and buyer voluntarily agree upon the price for the exchange of X dollars for one Y widget. The trade satisfies some of their human wants. Both parties are better off for having made the profitable exchange or they would not have transacted. Once the Y widget becomes a life-saving organ, like a kidney, all bets are off according to the present prohibition on life-saving trades between two parties seeking to better themselves through an exchange. We contend that organs sourced from their willing owners seeking to sell part of themselves for a price present hitherto untapped life-saving trades that should be legalized forthwith.

Keywords

• transplants
• organ markets
• economic freedom
• medical ethics