Altruistic Kidney Donations

The subject of organ donations has been quite a controversial one in recent years, with many people calling upon an opt out system, where all people in the United Kingdom are registered to have their organs put up for donation once they die unless they opted out while they were living. This has become problematic since the need for organ donations has exceeded the supply through voluntary donors and many are suffering whilst healthy organs of some people who died are not being used. Another sensitive area is that of living donors. Currently in the United Kingdom, living donors can anonymously donate a single kidney, as they are thought to be able to survive on a single kidney. But who would donate their kidney. If someone was to do such a thing would they be a lunatic or a saint? If I was to do such a thing, it would be anonymous and I would never know what good came of giving away what I was born with. I have read two articles on Kidney donations - one in the Guardian newspaper and the other in the Newyorker magazine. The Guardian follows a radical proposition of selling Kidneys at a price of £28,000 as an incentive under "strict rules of access and equity." It explains that this proposition would "be an incentive across most income levels for those who wanted to do a kind deed and make enough money to, for instance, pay off university loans." The newyorker goes down the other path of scrapping anonymous donations and follows the story of a man who went on a website named "MatchingDonors." On this website, the man found the story of a certain person who needed a kidney so compelling that he decided that this should be the destination of his kidney. He consequently donated his kidney and became friends with the recipient - showing how people can be persuaded to donate kidneys to what they deem to be worthwhile causes.

The two articles cover some very interesting ideas. The idea of selling organs is not one which I believe should be adopted, as it would exploit people of a lower social standing and some families may be forced to sell their body parts to pay of debts and mortgages. It destroys the whole  idea of a good deed being done and would create a black market for organs. Furthermore, placing a financial value on human beings undermines the inherent dignity that person and their worth as an individual. On the other subject of scrapping the system of Altruistic Kidney donations, I believe that the newyorker uses a good example to illustrate a worthwhile argument. All kidney donations apart from those within the same family are anonymous in the United Kingdom, with the fear being that allowing people to choose others would inevitably open the door to discrimination and raise the question of why anyone is "more deserving" of a kidney that anyone else. The NHS decides by necessity and has a waiting list to deal with the problems. Furthermore, people who advertise on Websites are desperate for a kidney, often needing it as a last resort before they die and often beg for a donation. I would not want to see such a thing happening in the United Kingdom and am of the personal opinion that the only way to sustainably increase the number of donors is by employing the opt out system which most people would be open to.