Illegal Organ Harvesting

There are many different views on how this should be dealt with, either illegal or legal. I feel that organ harvesting for money should be legal, but restricted and watched over carefully. This is a serious business and should not be taken lightly. And now, with all of the people that are selling organs through the black market, legalizing the selling of organs would cut down on the crime rate of this. But, you can't expect it to just stop the crime all in all. People will always try to get around the system and the law, but it will cut the crime rate down a good deal. You can see supporting ideas of this with the people who argue over whether or not we should be able to carry concealed weapons or whether certain drugs should be legalized. People are always arguing over things like this because some say it’s wrong and some say it is right to do. the crime rate has a lot to do with their arguments.
While people can live without some organs or some portions of organs, it is extremely dangerous. If people are in a bad position economic-wise or just want some money, then that is their choice to sell off some of their organs. There isn’t a ton of money to be made off of such organ transplants as stated in one of the articles given to us, but yet, it is the individual’s choice. If you were to look at how there are many people that give an organ or organs to a relative of theirs, then why should organ harvesting for money be illegal too? It shouldn’t. The article, Which Organs Can I Live Without, and How Much Cash Can I Get For Them? talks about how dangerous these procedures really are and the complications that can come from these procedures. Many upon many people die each year because they are waiting in line to get a certain organ to make them better, but end up dying before they can get the organ. I feel that if it was legal to sell human organs, people wouldn’t have to wait as long for a certain organ and then they wouldn’t die. It wouldn’t only benefit the sickly, but it would benefit the organ donor as well in the form of money. Reading and thinking about all these articles has brought me to think all of the things that I have said. I feel that legalizing organ harvesting for money will overall benefit the society.

I was thinking the same thing about it being watched over closely. But how can we watch it? People are still going to go out on the streets and sell their organs. Who is going to make sure everything is going to go okay and it is a acceptable organ and the blood type. You made some good points but who is going to watch it closely and take it fully serious if they aren't going to a hospital or anything.

Hunter, you made some valid points in your response and Katie had some good questions. Something you may want to consider is the importance of organ preservation. Organs typically do not last for more that 48 hours. During this period, a donor must be matched, arrive had the hospital, and ungo transplantion. On CNN, a Time article was posted regarding the legalization of selling bone marrow earlier in 2012. Following the idea of NOTA (National Organ Transplant Act), the only perserved marrow is through peripheral apheresis. However, the compensation cannot be in cash; it is presented in the form of a voucher to be applied to scholarships, education, housing, or charitable donation (Park, 2012). Those could maybe be one for of regulation. However, the preservation of a donor organ is the main barrier. Will the organ be harvested and transplanted in time?

Park, Alice. (28 August 2012). Should people be allowed to seel their organs? Time Retrieved from

I fully agree with what your argument. It should be legal with strict regulations. It will not get rid of crime entirely, but nothing ever will so we should take that as a win. I think that it is a stupid thing to do and so do you and it is incredibly dangerous, so we have a common goal here. It is also likely that indeed if it was legalized the amount of organs that people surrender would be increased and it would be in a safer way too which is a great thing causing less bad results from malpractice and back alley Dr.s.