Transplant from executed prisoners - Good or Bad?

[greatcalgarian]

If the to be executed prisoner volunteered to sell his organ, would that practice be acceptable?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4921116.stm
Top British transplant surgeons have accused China of harvesting the organs of thousands of executed prisoners a year to sell for transplants.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the British Transplantation Society condemned the practice as unacceptable and a breach of human rights. The move comes less than a week after Chinese officials publicly denied the practice.

 

[greatcalgarian]

Call to allow body organ selling

About 400 people a year die in the UK waiting for organs

Two US doctors have suggested the sale of organs such as kidneys should be legalised to meet the rising demand.
They said bids to increase the donor pool were failing, and a black market in organ sales was booming.
Writing in Kidney International the pair said, while it remained a taboo, legalisation should be considered. But experts in the UK - where selling organs is illegal - said such a move was unnecessary and would exploit the poorest sections of society.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4719374.stm

 

[evearael]

If a prisoner on death row volunteered the donation without coersion, it is perfectly acceptable. Harvesting without permission is unacceptable, and harvesting with coersion is completely immoral. The sale of organs will only devalue human life, as only the wealthy would be able to afford it, while the poor die from the inability to pay for them. This would also lead to the poor being viewed as 'spare parts' for the rich.

 

[Buttercup]

I am against the sale of human organs but I can imagine it happening in the not too distant future.

A greater effort to encourage donation should be brought about....it's a somewhat taboo subject to be talked about and it shouldn't be. The only place I have ever been asked about organ donation is at the DMV. Never anywhere else.

 

[Buttons*]

I am against the sale of human organs but I can imagine it happening in the not too distant future.

A greater effort to encourage donation should be brought about....it's a somewhat taboo subject to be talked about and it shouldn't be. The only place I have ever been asked about organ donation is at the DMV. Never anywhere else.

last year in my bible class, and for Key Club, (which is a community service program) they asked us to sign cards saying that if we died our organs would go to help others... it freaked me out...

 

[jeffrey]

If a prisoner on death row volunteered the donation without coersion, it is perfectly acceptable. Harvesting without permission is unacceptable, and harvesting with coersion is completely immoral. The sale of organs will only devalue human life, as only the wealthy would be able to afford it, while the poor die from the inability to pay for them. This would also lead to the poor being viewed as 'spare parts' for the rich.

I totally agree with that. A lot would donate, if given special privileges while locked up.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

last year in my bible class, and for Key Club, (which is a community service program) they asked us to sign cards saying that if we died our organs would go to help others... it freaked me out...

You've got no use for them when you're dead, Ash.
The thing that pisses me off about this, is they'd have more spare parts if they didn't let relatives step in and stop the organs being harvested, regardless of whether that was the deceased's stated wish or not. My licence says I'm an organ donor and if I get killed, woe betide any member of my family who stands in the bloody way.Knockout

 

[michel]

You've got no use for them when you're dead, Ash.
The thing that pisses me off about this, is they'd have more spare parts if they didn't let relatives step in and stop the organs being harvested, regardless of whether that was the deceased's stated wish or not. My licence says I'm an organ donor and if I get killed, woe betide any member of my family who stands in the bloody way.Knockout

You are right; it seems to be the relatives of the deceased who have the last say, regardless of what plans the dead person made. I would offer any 'bits' of mine that are worth re-using, but I don't think anyone would have them............

Joking apart, if there is anything worth rescuing from the trash bin, the doctors are welcome to them.

 

[robtex]

Supply and demand makes it bad. At times when the demand for organs increases the need for executable prisioners will also increase. The critera for attaining prisoners and for deeming one as executable will also be affected by supply and demand shifting the plexus of motives away from issues on justice and closer to issues on organ supply.

 

[angellous_evangellous]

If the to be executed prisoner volunteered to sell his organ, would that practice be acceptable?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4921116.stm
Top British transplant surgeons have accused China of harvesting the organs of thousands of executed prisoners a year to sell for transplants.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the British Transplantation Society condemned the practice as unacceptable and a breach of human rights. The move comes less than a week after Chinese officials publicly denied the practice.

I wrote a paper on organ selling in grad school for bioethics. I focused mainly on India, but also some on China. Trust me, you don't want to buy organs on the black market. The organs are almost certainly contaminated and the doctors who are willing to perform the operations are not, shall we say, the most honest characters or the most qualified person... I haven't heard of a successful black market surgury.

As it stands now, organ selling is completely unsafe and unethical, and I can't forsee a way to make it ethical. Under our current system, doctors and ethicists determine who gets organs based on need and how long one has waited. It is for the most part fair, and at best brings out the best in humanity.

 

[Mike182]

i have no moral problem with organ donation, so long as it is just that - donated.

forcing someone to donate is immoral in my oppinion, but i also think it wrong to stand in the way of a family member's organs being donated if that was their wish. my body, my rules!

 

[ChrisP]

Making it clear now that this makes me screw up my nose, but I saw this on the news tonight and could understand, if not agree with the Chinese govt. side of things.

It is immoral by the standards here, but when you have 1.4 billion people to care for, you take every resource you can get.

What I disagree with most is the reasons for executing a lot of these people... even for things as simple as evading tax and assault (which sounds bad but often times isn't)... this may be an urban myth but a friend of mine from China (originally) told me that: The prisoner is knelt down and shot in the back of the head then the family gets sent the bill for the bullet.

I'm more concerned about that than the parts of the dead body that results.

EDIT : And it's been confirmed 100% certain this is happening btw. They sent someone undercover into a hospital that is openly connected with the paramilitary, and the doctor who performs the operation up front came out and said it. This is NOT blackmarket... this is what the top (and richest) Chinese officials and businessmen pay for.