Initiatives to dramatically increase the legal supply of organ donation, such as the proposal for the European Union (EU) -wide donor card, are urgently needed to prevent organ trafficking, says an Editorial in this week’s edition of The Lancet.
The Editorial says: “Unless both living and deceased organ donations increase exponentially to meet demand, there will always be desperate people willing to do anything to receive a kidney, or other body parts, and those living in abject poverty who are desperate enough to risk being donors.”
Possible legalisation and regulation of commercial organ sales has its supporters, since some believe that donors can be properly checked before and cared for after in such a system. The Editorial says: “In this context, the Iranian model, in which donors are routinely paid and well looked after, and where the supply of organs matches demand, is often considered the gold standard.”
Others see the commercial sale of organs as “morally repugnant”, perhaps because such a move could further widen the gap between the rich and the poor, or because some things, such as human organs, “are too precious to be treated as general goods.”
The Editorial says that while demand for organs outstrips supply, punitive measures will simply drive organ trafficking further underground.
It concludes: “Cultural and social barriers regarding deceased donation should also be addressed. Otherwise, although ethically and morally suspect, the case for legalising and regulating the commercial sale of human organs may appear to have the upper hand.”
Organ donation is also discussed in the World Report section of this week’s Lancet.
The Lancet