I want to approach this question differently. Rather than make a subjective pronouncement based on what comes to my head right away, I want to start with the notion, I have no clue, but let me try to figure it out.
Suppose people are allowed to sell their one kidney. We have two kidneys, presumably, for a reason. May be it is for redundancy, if one fails the other one is sufficient to maintain life. Or for the proper function both kidneys need to be working and with only one kidney, may be life is deficient. If we consider the redundancy reasoning and if we assume failure of kidney is highly likely after a certain age, then there is the question of seller's remorse. But unlike seller's remorse where the seller sold his stock in stock market at a low price and later the price doubled, here we are talking about life and death. The stakes are high. If we didn't have flood insurance and our house is washed away in a tsunami, we say, well it is only the house. But, we can't say, well, it is only the life.
If we sold a stock at an inopportune time, we have the ability to learn from the mistake and reenter the market and regain lost fortune. The kidney selling is irreversible.
When it comes to life, the society and the government has an obligation to intervene and set policies that minimize the effect of potentially fateful decision.
Let us think of another reason. If I have a dire need for money for getting a prosthetic, or for urgent eye surgery, or son's college, if I approach my friends and family, most likely they will respond today. If kidney sale is allowed, they might say go sell a kidney.
If kidney selling is allowed, where does it lead us? How about selling an eye. May be in future more organs may become harvestable. We cannot open the floodgates before we fully understand the long term implications. We cannot ask the majority in these issues, what do you think?. We will need to engage the society in deep long debate and educate the public and then ask the society to make the decision slowly and carefully.
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