Selling your body...

[Bombadillo]

..parts.

That's right, a thread not about prostitution, but about the selling of your own sperm, eggs, blood, or organs and the participation in medical experiments for cash!

Personally, I never understood why someone in need of money wanting to sell their own organs would upset anyone else, but for some reason I've always had the impression that society is largely against the idea. As for being a human guinneau pig, that's as noble a job as any IMO, since you are contributing to society by allowing research to be done that might help some people. And I know you can sell parts of your bone (for big cash too, since it's so painful and no one is willinging to do it) to someone who needs a transplant. The same goes for kidneys. You can donate them, but if you're saving a life, you at least deserve to get paid for it, IMO.

Are there big moral issues or something?

Did or would you ever consider doing it yourself?

What do you think society's problem is, if any, with the idea?

[Lotesse]

Originally Posted by Bombadillo

..parts.

That's right, a thread not about prostitution, but about the selling of your own sperm, eggs, blood, or organs and the participation in medical experiments for cash!

That IS prostitution, as far as I'm concerned. The most disgusting level of prostitution.

[Bombadillo]

Really? You mean all of it?

At least for the kidneys and bone marrow, the donor deserves some money to get him through physical therapy or whatever. I know that a charitable donation of that kind should be worthwhile just 'cause it's saving a life, but then asking someone to be satisfied with only that, after having just lost a kidney and facing some months of recuperation, is kind of too much to ask. IOW, I don't think I could blame someone for wanting money in that situation.

[Lotesse]

If you want money for it, then it's not a donation. To donate is to give as a gift, not to sell.

[Earniel]

In theory it could work, paying donors. It would mean an increase in much-needed transplants that could save a lot of live. But we wouldn't be human if we don't manage to screw a good system up. You're going to have black markets for organs, like those that are already in existance. Poor people will sell some of their organs to get some cash, often endangering their health in the process. Often it's not even them that'll make a lot of money on their own kidneys and such, but some middle-men. In the end it can do more harm than good.

Reminds me of that Continent of Entmoot game, where in one issue students began selling organs to pay for their education.

[Millane]

not sure about selling my organs but if i die they get donated, sorta scared to donate them when i still might need them

[The Gaffer]

I think "society's" problem with selling organs is that it means that people are doing it not entirely of their own free will.

As Lotesse says, a donation is a donation. Commerce should not be involved.

On the other side of the "transaction", health care should be available on the basis of clinical need, not ability to pay.

What about selecting an embryo in order to provide compatible tissue for donation to a sibling?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4153538.stm

[brownjenkins]

people sell their hair to make wigs... why's a kidney any different?

if there is a buyer, there is always a seller... making something people want "unsellable" via laws usually causes more problems than it solves

[The Gaffer]

Er, you die without kidneys.

All operations have a risk of harm. (I know someone who donated a kidney to her brother. It saved his life but she has had many complications since.)

[Mercutio]

There was one man selling his kidney or something on eBAY. It got removed as soon as the newspapers and eBAY folks found out. I think it was on a few days.

[The Gaffer]

A (different) friend of mine bought some jizz on the internet and now she's got a bouncing baby girl.

Draken, maybe you should go onto eBay and see what the bids are...

[Lotesse]

See, to me the concept of selling ANYthing that it part & parcel of oneself, either physically or intellectually(read: to 'sell out') is disgusting, it is prostitution. That includes selling your hair, selling your eggs, selling your freakin' toenails, whatever - it's low, really low & base. To donate to someone you love a kidney or whatever in order to save their life, that is a gift, a selfless and private gift and not some laudable great thing if money or publicity's involved.

I hate prostitution in any form; I don't hate prostitutes (I know a few, they're sad but nice people) but I loathe, hatehatehate the human act of prostitution and what it does to the collective human spirit, prostitution in ANY form.

[Spock]

There was an X-File about this. In parts of Asia this is part of the cultural morass.

[Lotesse]

Originally Posted by Spock

There was an X-File about this. In parts of Asia this is part of the cultural morass.

So, so creepy.

[Insidious Rex]

Originally Posted by Spock

There was an X-File about this. In parts of Asia this is part of the cultural morass.

Generally in Japan. And that because there is a strict taboo about donating organs from bodies so there are much less 'legal' organs available so its just normal to look for body parts from other sources. And that is a perfect reason why selling of body parts should not be allowed to be a free and unchecked capatilist venture. As it stands now there are middle men who will pressure people in debt to sell a kidney or part of a liver so that they can get out of debt. If they refuse then they threaten them with death. So they have little choice. Whats more, these middle men also pressure the people an ill health who NEED an organ to forgoe the usual route of waiting for one from a cadaver and spend the money to go to some shady place and have the operation done with someone who has "donated" a "fresh living" organ... So its bad news. I know of one example of poor workers in Moldova who were told by the people that hired them that they would be traveling to another country for this "job" that would pay them well. When they got there they were told they had to donate organs. If they didnt they wouldnt get any money and wouldnt be allowed to leave. Those that still refused had their family threatened till they gave in.

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by brownjenkins

people sell their hair to make wigs... why's a kidney any different?

I'm guessing it's because a kidney doesn't grow back... or isn't in need of the occasional trimming...

[Rían]

wow - really sick

I carry a donor card next to my drivers' license - they can have whatever parts they need when I die. I just don't want my body donated to science where some med students will be slicing my body up - irrational, but hey, it's my choice!

[Millane]

Originally Posted by Lotesse

See, to me the concept of selling ANYthing that it part & parcel of oneself, either physically or intellectually.

like books and music and movies and ****

[Lotesse]

I mean a physical part of your actual body, Millane, although I don't see why it can't also mean selling a part of your soul, like when frauds & phonies "sell out", I suppose.

[Bombadillo]

Yeah, I know a donation is a donation, something that you're sacrificing for another's benefit. But if you ever had enough heart to donate a kidney to a stranger, than you would be entitled to something for yourself, I think. Granted, the nicer thing to do would be to donate without asking for money, but when you get paid for it, you're still saving a life. So to make it illegal to give you money in return for that would be to deny a reward to a hero.