I think it will be a lot easier to take some of these ideas into consideration when everyone has their basic needs met and universal healthcare. I think up until then, we will still have a non zero amount of people having their kidneys harvested to get a leg up in this economy.
There are a lot of things that go through my mind and I wistfully think, “ah, that will be great to try implementing once everyone has their basic needs met!”
But here’s a proposal that will actually help people get their basic needs met. If we can give a healthy kidney to every (poor, starving) person in need of a kidney transplant, we’ll save a lot of lives and help keep a lot of people afloat.
I would hope the proposal would keep the number of people who donate a kidney just to pay rent to a minimum. But honestly, even if there’s a small number of people who do donate a kidney out of desperation, on balance isn’t it still a good thing? Think of all the recipients and how much this will help them. And those few people who donated out of desperation – how much worse off will they be? Maybe it would be ghoulish in a sense, but surely there’s a system which (unlike blood donations) minimizes the harm caused and maximizes the benefits.
$50,000 is a life changing amount of money for everyone I’ve ever met. Hell $10,000 is.
If the regulations are so stringent as to prevent people doing this for monetary reasons, then why are we even discussing money?
This is just smoke and mirrors to get around the fact that only people who need the money will sell their kidneys. Do you think Jeff Bezos will be jumping at the opportunity to sell his kidney?
And if there’s not enough monetary incentive, then we’re right back where we started anyway.
I don’t think it’s a reach to say that we should prioritize universal healthcare, universal housing, or universal food access before opening the market up for kidneys.
Way more people die a year due to not having proper medical insurance (in the US) than due to kidney failure. More difficult to get estimates for the lethality caused by food or housing insecurity, but it doesn’t take much imagination to see how these factors contribute to negative health outcomes. And these solutions not only save lives without exploiting anyone, but also raise the quality of life for everyone.
I think it will be a lot easier to take some of these ideas into consideration when everyone has their basic needs met and universal healthcare. I think up until then, we will still have a non zero amount of people having their kidneys harvested to get a leg up in this economy.
There are a lot of things that go through my mind and I wistfully think, “ah, that will be great to try implementing once everyone has their basic needs met!”
But here’s a proposal that will actually help people get their basic needs met. If we can give a healthy kidney to every (poor, starving) person in need of a kidney transplant, we’ll save a lot of lives and help keep a lot of people afloat.
I would hope the proposal would keep the number of people who donate a kidney just to pay rent to a minimum. But honestly, even if there’s a small number of people who do donate a kidney out of desperation, on balance isn’t it still a good thing? Think of all the recipients and how much this will help them. And those few people who donated out of desperation – how much worse off will they be? Maybe it would be ghoulish in a sense, but surely there’s a system which (unlike blood donations) minimizes the harm caused and maximizes the benefits.
$50,000 is a life changing amount of money for everyone I’ve ever met. Hell $10,000 is.
If the regulations are so stringent as to prevent people doing this for monetary reasons, then why are we even discussing money?
This is just smoke and mirrors to get around the fact that only people who need the money will sell their kidneys. Do you think Jeff Bezos will be jumping at the opportunity to sell his kidney?
And if there’s not enough monetary incentive, then we’re right back where we started anyway.
I don’t think it’s a reach to say that we should prioritize universal healthcare, universal housing, or universal food access before opening the market up for kidneys.
Way more people die a year due to not having proper medical insurance (in the US) than due to kidney failure. More difficult to get estimates for the lethality caused by food or housing insecurity, but it doesn’t take much imagination to see how these factors contribute to negative health outcomes. And these solutions not only save lives without exploiting anyone, but also raise the quality of life for everyone.