“Gratuities” for donated organs: ethically indefensible

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) 2011-04, Vol.377 (9775), p.1390-1391
• Main Authors: Biller-Andorno, Nikola, Capron, Alexander Morgan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bans; Bioethical Issues; Blood & organ donations; Commerce - economics; Commerce - ethics; Developing Countries; Humans; Internal Medicine; Medical Tourism - economics; Medical Tourism - ethics; Medical Tourism - legislation & jurisprudence; Tissue and Organ Procurement - economics; Tissue and Organ Procurement - ethics; Tissue and Organ Procurement - legislation & jurisprudence; Transplants & implants
• ISSN: 0140-6736; 1474-547X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61419-5

[...] if a ban cannot be made to work, why should we expect regulation to be implemented successfully? [...] there is no justification for retreating from the World Health Assembly's recent affirmation that "voluntary, non-remunerated donation of organs... helps to ensure a vital community resource",2 one that depends on countries developing robust systems for deceased donation, and enacting and enforcing organvending prohibitions that encompass gratuities, which are simply "disguised forms of payment" as stated by the commentary to WHO's Guiding Principle 5 (panel).2 How ironic but also sad that proponents of organ markets should choose Manila-where thousands of people who are poor bear the scar of having sold a kidney-as the locale for their attempt to undermine the global consensus on how to promote ethical organ transplantation and to put an end to the human-rights violations that inhere in trafficking in human organs and in the vulnerable people from whom they are extracted.16