Should the trade in human body organs be legal, or illegal?

Question

include biological, social and ethical aspects

Answer 1

I think it should be as long as the donor has given consent. But it's probably not that easy. People will probably find loopholes to exploit.

Answer 2

There's always the issue of people waking up in a bathtub full of ice with a kidney missing, as you probably were thinking upon creating this question.  That's the social aspect - people would actually try to make money off of it.  People who are not quite so invasive into others might sell an organ of their own, thus harming health in our country to a far greater extent.  

The biological aspect is a little simpler.  If it was legal, the large influx of organs that would occur could lead to issues with blood typing and disease testing.  A while back, an organ donor died in a car crash.  The organs of that body were transplanted into other people, and it was only several days later that they discovered that the person was infected with rabies.  Every single patient died of the dreadful disease.  This would become more common and more dangerous.

The ethical aspects are more elusive.  It's ethically sound to have more organs to give to more individuals.  At the same time, it becomes a much more tenuous issue.  Suddenly the class system would present itself more readily.  Those who are poor would be far more likely to buy into this system than those that are rich.  The ethical aspect is more based in the class system than anything else.  It would widen that gap between the rich and the poor, and the healthcare costs would only stand to harm them even more when they come in with a missing kidney.

Answer 3

depends on what you mean. if you mean to save someone's life, then, yes, if it matches and the donner is willing. if just to do the switch for money or experiment, then, no.

Answer 4

Illegal. The chinese trump up charges and murder prisoners for their organs. I saw it with my own eyes on a news report on TV a few years ago. There is also a temptation to withold treatment and "let" a poor person die to make money from a rich person. I posted a question a few days ago about the future of organ transplants like this. "How would you feel if after your death your s*x organs were to go to a member of the opposite gender"."How would you feel knowing that some guy was doin' it with your junk?"Ethical?