Ethical market in organs

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7368.835

BMJ 2002;325:835 ( 12 October )

Letters

Ethical market in organs

Market of organs is unethical under any circumstances

Proposal is problematic

Defending the indefensible?

Market of organs is unethical under any circumstances

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Although we admire Harris and Erin's commitment to solve the dilemmas posed by a shortage of organs, we strongly disagreenot only with their conclusions but also with their assumption $---$ namely,that the selling and buying of human organs can be made ethical.¹

Harris and Erin harness their theory to the laudable commitment to raise donation rates but arrive at the definition of anethical market by promoting a system that seems to depend onlyon a restricted group of citizens $---$ those who find the monetaryincentives proposedappealing.

Firstly, the integrity of the human body should never be subject to trade. Can we truly define this system as ethical becausethe selling and buying of organs is administered by thestate?

Secondly, how can a system be called ethical when it implicitly penalises the weakest people and exacerbates discriminationbased on census? Will a healthy well-off citizen . . . [Full text of this article]