Should the U.S. rely on altruism for organ donatios or should people be allowed to sell organs?

People are born with two kidneys but only need one to survive; which means that a living donor can save someone’s life and still lead a normal life. That may be true altruism.

In 1983 a doctor by the name of Barry Jacobs wanted to enact a pay-for- organs plan. His company, International Kidney Exchange, would bring people from the Third World to the U.S and harvest one kidney then send them back home. His idea of paying for kidneys was not well received.

Congress in response to Jacobs passed the National Organ Transplant Act, which made it illegal “for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplant.”

In Iran there was so much worry about a kidney shortage that it put in a program to pay people for a kidney. The Iranian Government pays $1,200 for a kidney. Iran does not have a waiting list for people to receive a kidney transplant.

So, how has altruism worked out for organ transplant? In the U.S. 80,000 are waiting for a new kidney, but only about 16,000 transplants are performed each year. Some 50,000 people on the list have died in the last twenty years, with 13,000 dying because they are too ill to receive a transplant.

If altruism worked there would not be a shortage of organs. Should people be allowed to sell their own organs? A noble prize winning economist Gary Becker thinks so, he wants a regulated market, where a person could sell an organ and be compensated in cash, a college scholarship, or even a tax break.

Levitt, S., & Dubner, S. (2009) Super Freakonomics. New York: HarperCollins.