From the wealthy clients to the impoverished donors, the black market organ trade has become somewhat of a normalcy to many worldwide. This atrocious, yet prosperous business exists because the supply of organs lag far behind the demand. To alleviate the shortage of healthy organs, America should switch to the “opt-out” policy regarding organ donation.
America: the home of bustling cities, unique people, delicious food, and the black market organ trade. Though it doesn’t seem to fit in the list of common concepts associated with America, the black market organ trade has become a profitable enterprise in the USA. This happened due to the disparity in the demand for organs and the supply available. With a staggering estimate of 123,000 people …show more content…
This means that “rather than requiring people to “opt in” to donating their organs while they are still alive” (Schieber) peoples organs would be donated upon death automatically. Organs do nothing for a corpse, they just rot away instead of possibly saving a life when donated. This wasteful practice can be avoided with the opt-out policy. Not only is the question of its effectiveness raised but one of its ethics as well. The opt-out policy is not one where there is no choice in the matter. Family members or the person themself can object to the harvestation of their organs which keeps this policy ethically sound as there is a choice. The opt-out policy is a lot more common than one might think. A majority of the European nations have adopted the pot-out policy because of its indisputable results. One of the most successful of these nations is Spain. For the last 25 years Spain has been a world leader in organ donation and even broke their own record. This means that “Spain saw 43.4 individual donors per million people (pmp) in 2016, an increase from 39.7 pmp in 2015 and 36 pmp in 2014, "much higher" than the EU average (19.6) and the US average (26.6)” (Goven) which is a massive improvement from prior years. Spain’s impressive growth is directly contributed to the opt-out policy which shows how successful it can …show more content…
Like many of the European nations, America has a large population that is socially and technologically advanced. Unlike these nations however, Americans have an opt-in policy. The statistics regarding the differences between organ donation rates are staggering. “A 2012 study found that organ donation rates are ‘typically exceeding 90 percent in opt-out countries and failing to reach even 15 percent in opt-in countries’” (Samuel). It’s no longer a question of why America lacks organs, the proof is in the statistics. Along with saving lives, an increase in the number of organs being legally donated would dismantle the black market organ trade in America. The black market organ trade originally developed in the US due to the demand for organs. This was proven when “USA Today conducted an investigative report in 2006 and found that illegal body harvesting is very lucrative in the U.S. due to the high demand of body parts. The investigation revealed that from 1987- 2006 (19 years), over 16,800 families had pursued lawsuits stating that their loved ones body parts were illegally sold for an estimated $6 million dollars” (Small-Jordan). So, without the demand as high, the suppliers will be out of work. This can be done by America switching to opt-out. Aside from the obvious benefits for the organ transplant community, the switch from opt-in to opt-out can benefit America as a whole. In
America: the home of bustling cities, unique people, delicious food, and the black market organ trade. Though it doesn’t seem to fit in the list of common concepts associated with America, the black market organ trade has become a profitable enterprise in the USA. This happened due to the disparity in the demand for organs and the supply available. With a staggering estimate of 123,000 people …show more content…
This means that “rather than requiring people to “opt in” to donating their organs while they are still alive” (Schieber) peoples organs would be donated upon death automatically. Organs do nothing for a corpse, they just rot away instead of possibly saving a life when donated. This wasteful practice can be avoided with the opt-out policy. Not only is the question of its effectiveness raised but one of its ethics as well. The opt-out policy is not one where there is no choice in the matter. Family members or the person themself can object to the harvestation of their organs which keeps this policy ethically sound as there is a choice. The opt-out policy is a lot more common than one might think. A majority of the European nations have adopted the pot-out policy because of its indisputable results. One of the most successful of these nations is Spain. For the last 25 years Spain has been a world leader in organ donation and even broke their own record. This means that “Spain saw 43.4 individual donors per million people (pmp) in 2016, an increase from 39.7 pmp in 2015 and 36 pmp in 2014, "much higher" than the EU average (19.6) and the US average (26.6)” (Goven) which is a massive improvement from prior years. Spain’s impressive growth is directly contributed to the opt-out policy which shows how successful it can …show more content…
Like many of the European nations, America has a large population that is socially and technologically advanced. Unlike these nations however, Americans have an opt-in policy. The statistics regarding the differences between organ donation rates are staggering. “A 2012 study found that organ donation rates are ‘typically exceeding 90 percent in opt-out countries and failing to reach even 15 percent in opt-in countries’” (Samuel). It’s no longer a question of why America lacks organs, the proof is in the statistics. Along with saving lives, an increase in the number of organs being legally donated would dismantle the black market organ trade in America. The black market organ trade originally developed in the US due to the demand for organs. This was proven when “USA Today conducted an investigative report in 2006 and found that illegal body harvesting is very lucrative in the U.S. due to the high demand of body parts. The investigation revealed that from 1987- 2006 (19 years), over 16,800 families had pursued lawsuits stating that their loved ones body parts were illegally sold for an estimated $6 million dollars” (Small-Jordan). So, without the demand as high, the suppliers will be out of work. This can be done by America switching to opt-out. Aside from the obvious benefits for the organ transplant community, the switch from opt-in to opt-out can benefit America as a whole. In