Open the organ market

According to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network website, there are presently 113,456 Americans on the waiting list for organ transplants.

By far, kidneys are the most direly needed organ, with 91,373 candidates on the list, yet there will only be about 17,000 kidney transplants done this year.

So, how can we supply kidneys for about 74,000 more people?

In 2007, Julio Elias, an economist, wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “The introduction of monetary incentives could increase the supply of organs sufficiently to eliminate the large queues (of kidney candidates), and it would do so without increasing the total cost of kidney transplant surgery.”

I realize this sounds repulsive and possibly mafia-related at first, but opening up a kidney market might not be as bad or insane as it initially seems.

Most humans are born with what is essentially an “extra” kidney. We might enjoy having two kidneys, just for the sake of symmetry, but when it comes down to it, we really only need one to get by. My own grandpa was born with just one kidney, and he lived 87 healthy and happy years with it.

If healthy people can survive with just one kidney, why shouldn’t we allow them to benefit from donating? It’s a purely symbiotic relationship. I give you a kidney, and you give me money. Both parties benefit.

Singapore reportedly pays donors as much as 50,000 Singapore dollars ($36,000 in the U.S.) to give up one of their kidneys. Iran, by paying people for donations, has completely eliminated kidney waiting lists.

But these countries are in the minority. Right now, selling organs is illegal in almost every country, so I understand this isn’t a change that will happen overnight.

I’m not even saying we should necessarily open up an organ market, but I think it is a topic worthy of discussion.

Many people are disgusted by the idea of paying people for organs, which is understandable.

It makes me kind of queasy just thinking about donating blood, much less a kidney. Yet it is legal to donate blood and other bodily fluids.

If I were to object to a blood drive just because it seems gross, I doubt anyone would take me seriously. The fact is blood donations save lives. If kidney donations can do the same thing, why shouldn’t we consider allowing them?

­— aleblakl@indiana.edu