Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Why We Sometimes Call it the Dismal Science

Sadly, this too relates to economics.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2007/11/05/riminton.philippines.kidney.sale.cnn

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is crazy. But at the same time it makes sense, for people living in poverty-- as shown in the video-- will willingly endanger their lives and future health for extra money; in many cases, they have few alternatives. The kidney market will continue to grow, so the best thing to do it figure out how to monitor it. Should the govt. organize the market, monitoring the condition of the kidneys and the well-being of the donors? Or should private organizations or NGOs handle the situation? In my opinion, unless the govt. has a strong health care system already-- which they DONT--, they should work in conjunction with NGOs or organizations like "HOPE". The best hope is that the donors receive health insurance post-surgery and a safe deposit for their money. I still hate the idea of a black market for human organs, but if it already exists, people must draft some laws and guidelines to ensure that the the negative impacts and health risks don't overwhelmingly outweigh the positive monetary gains.

Unknown said...

I'm a little confused..

when i click on the link for the video i get to CNN and this video on Pakistani protests comes on..and it doesn't really seem to be talking about kidney markets or any of the sort like what tyler said up there.

:S

Michael Cronquist said...

Well... i don't know. Its a very controversial topic and i don't know how i feel about it.. but if one person is willing to pay money for a kidney... and another is willing to donate for money...i say its their choice. As for the economic side, well i think it would be interesting to see what price an open market would determine a piece of human life is worth. That may sound disgusting but hey... all in the name of willing science. I guess who really wins here are people at the bottom of kidney transplant lists.

EmilieKate said...

First of all.. this is a crazy topic!
For the poverty stricken people, selling their kidney is great because it's something "free" that they can sell without doing any work - and one guy made x3 his annual salary!

Like Tyler said, the best thing would be to monitor the market because it would be impossible to completely control the black market. I think it is a safety issue therefore it is good that they have established HOPE to help monitor the market in a safe way. But also, I think NGOs should help these people with their jobs and fires to prevent the need to sell the kidney.

Also, the government should monitor the foreign use of the kidneys. Yes, it is good that there are matches for the kidney donors, but by opening up the market internationally I think it encourages people to sell their kidneys and that isn't right.

The government needs to become involved to help establish a more successful system to discourage people from using the black market to sell thier kidney. The government should give support to HOPE and other NGOs should help pursue this issue for the sake of the local people.

Anonymous said...

Err me too face the same prob as Debora/Debbie? When i click on that link, all i get is a gunfire exchange scene. Anyway, a black market for organs sound so terrible. But i suppose no one would actually sell their own organs unless they really need the money. So, i guess to combat this prob, some financial help could be offered to the poor ppl, though in reality, nothing is that simple. I'm not even sure if what i'm saying is relevant.=S

Unknown said...

First of all let me begin by saying that each person's body is their own and they have the right to do with it whatever they want.
Then let me assure you that HOPE is a excellent idea and I hope for the people in the phillipines that it's ideas are excersized in the country.
However, If I was part of the Phillipines Government I would promote education and try that every day people work more, and sell themselves less.

matt--- said...

that was interesting. its controversial but everyone can do what they wish with their body. if poor people are in desperate need of money and want to sell their kidneys i think that is alright. the only thing that im curious about is what type of medical care the kidney doners get after their operation.

Unknown said...

This is very sad, but as was stated before, it often seems to be the best solution for people in need at the time. At one point the video stated that a man recieved about three times his yearly wages for his kidney, but that he lost the money because he didn't have any proper protection for it. Even though it sounds terrible, at this moment the legal "export" of kidneys may be the most sensible thing to do in order to ensure maximum protection and benefits for the donor. While so much money is at stake, it will be inevitable that people living in poverty will sell their organs for a decent amount of money, no matter the consequences. The best that can be done is to ensure that they at least recieve full protection, including protection for their payments. By legalizing the organ trade countries like the Phillipines may be able to finance better donor care. Nevertheless, this solution is simply a lesser of two evils, and I still think it's very sad that people in poverty are driven to such extremes.

Dante said...

I agree with luisa. If they legalize organ sale it will permit a better protection of the organ donor, but then again, I think it is sick to have a price tag on a human organ as if it were any other good.

In either case exploitation will probably still occur and it's unsure if the donors will gain or lose overall if they legalize it, like, they might get less money for their organ in an open market than in a black market. Who knows? I think there is no real solution to this issue, at least that I can see.