A Global Market for Organs

According to the American Transplant Foundation, an average of twenty-one people die every day in the US alone due to a shortage of organs available for transplant, powerless against their personal health challenges. Most patients wait years to rise higher on the list, with approximately seven percent dying before ever receiving the transplant that could have saved their life. Almost every country prohibits the sale of organs, though the laws seem to serve more as deterrents to organizations entering the market since few people have ever been prosecuted despite the rampant black market. Though a controversial idea to some, the legalization of an international organ market may be exactly what these patients in dire circumstances need to regain the ability to solve the health challenges that they face.

The main benefit of establishing a market for organ donation would be, of course, solving the shortage that the world currently faces. The monetary incentives for individuals to provide organs would increase supply, helping restore patient’s ability to solve the health problems that they face.

An additional benefit of establishing an international market for organs is that it would help solve the disparity between countries in terms of access to organs. Many nations with a majority population holding strong religious beliefs against organ donation like Israel suffer disproportionately in their shortage due to a lack of donations. Israel’s oldest daily newspaper, Haaretz, reported that only 45% of the country’s population agreed with organ donation, a rate about 50% less than that of most western nations. A global market would help solve this disparity by allowing individuals in countries like Israel the opportunity to more easily obtain organs from other places across the globe.

Lastly, the market for organ donation would solve the rampant problem of organ trafficking in the black market. Due to the lack of law enforcement against selling organs for monetary compensation, a black market for organ trafficking has arisen. However, the laws still serve a deterrent effect in the fact that they stop more organizations from entering the market. This gives the few organizations that do operate in the black market a relatively large amount of price-setting power. A report from CNN found that organ traffickers as a whole generate profits between $513 million and $1 billion a year. This fact demonstrates exactly how much brokers for organs manage to exploit the powerless situation of patients by marking up prices.

Furthermore, the methods that many organ traffickers use to get their supply of organs are far from legitimate. There have been multiple reports in Nepal and elsewhere of organ traffickers tricking the poor into donating their kidneys in exchange for sums of money, the compensation seemingly large to these individuals but relatively small in comparison to the high prices that the organ traffickers sell the organs for. Legalizing the organ trade would solve this problem as more individuals would be willing to donate due to the monetary incentives, discouraging organ traffickers from taking such extreme measures in order to supply their customers.

However, putting moral concerns aside, there are some economic disadvantages to creating this market. Though a market for organs would stop the poor from being exploited by organ traffickers, it would also disproportionately harm those in need of organs who don’t have the money to pay for them. Currently, patients are placed on waiting lists for matching donations, with transplants occurring on a first-come-first-serve basis. This creates equality among patients in need of organ transplants, as socioeconomic status of the patients has little influence on the availability of organs for transplant. Creating a market for organs would eliminate this system, as those of a higher socioeconomic status would more easily be able to afford and obtain organs. Those that didn’t heave the financial means necessary would be shut out of the market, perhaps resulting in death for some.

International regulation of the organ market could be used counteract these disadvantages. The government could work to establish subsidies for the poor in need of transplants that enable them to pay for organs, stopping those who have the need but not the finances from being excluded from the market.  Furthermore, limits on supplying organs could be established to safeguard the poor from selling too many of their organs, creating health problems for themselves in the long run.

The current system we have for organ transplants is inefficient and in dire need of change. Perhaps establishing a market for organs is exactly the change we give patients in need of transplants greater control over their health needs. With the right restrictions placed on the market, the government could establish a system that not only helps the patients in need, but also prevents against many of the negative externalities that would be created by that system.