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Commercialization of Organ Transplants

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The commercialization of organ transplants have been a subject of ethical debate amongst healthcare professionals, ethicists and economists alike. There have been arguments made for and against the sale of organs. This paper will examine the ethical arguments associated with purchasing organs and determine whether it is ethical to do so.

Arguments for and against the commercialization of organ transplants
Supporters of the commercialization of organ transplants argue that it could effectively assist in greatly reducing the organ donor waiting lists. Kidneys, for example has a waiting list of 99,201 people in the United States (kidney.org, 2014). Some supporters, such as Julio J Elias, an economist at the State University of New York, Buffalo believes that marketing organs can work, it is less a matter of morals than it is a matter of social cost (Ireland, 2008). He believes that once society sees the benefits of commercializing transplants, they will no longer view it as unethical.
Arguers against the commercialization of organ transplants believe that the sale of organs will ultimately prompt the exploitation of the poor. In a bulletin of the World Health Organization, it states that the neediest in poorer countries are often exploited by countries with a thriving market for organs (Garwood, 2007). Arguers worry that by commercializing transplants, it will cause a mass decent on those poor countries for the willing, yet uninformed, agreeing to sell their organs.

My position on the sale of organs
Through my research, I have come to the decision that I do not believe the sale of organs should be permitted. There are too many instances of wealthy preying on the poor for the purchase of their organs. People in poor countries are often tricked into to selling their organs through the vanished. Meanwhile, some wealthy person who can afford to

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