Research Summary: Who Holds The Deed To Your Body

English 101A
Melissa Long
25 September, 2011 Who Holds the Deed to YOUR Body? The sale of organs on the black market is a huge problem in our society today. It is immoral and needs to be more heavily monitored by the government. I once knew a women with three small children to support unfortunately, her husband was shot and he died. She was left with the three small children and had no way to support them, and no one to help her. When she was presented with the opportunity to sell her organs; to make money and thus be able to better care for her children, she jumped at the chance to sell her organs. She was promised it was going to be a quick procedure, painless and she would have no recovery
time. But it was not like that. She went and had the surgery and a few days afterwards she was not feeling well so she decided to go see a doctor. After a few tests the doctor told her she had massive internal bleeding. She ended up dying and leaving her children alone in the world. The people who offered to buy her organs were not a legitimate organization; it was “under the table”. The doctor was not fully licensed did not know what he was doing therefore she ended up dying and leaving her three children alone. She had been in such a desperate situation and taking such desperate measures and that decision ended up taking her life ( Satel 311). These are desperate times and people will go to desperate measures in order to provide for their family. People are uneducated and they do not understand the consequences of their actions and many end up dying or seriously injured just like this young mother sadly, her three children were left on the mercy of the court system. she never realize that it would be possible to die from this procedure she was only thinking of the money at the time and how she would be able to provide for her family once again . Being that people are not educated in these matters and they are not aware of the risks they just see the glorious sum of money and a way out of their desperate situations. We educate our population about aids, cancer, diabetes and many more serious illness but we do not educate people on the risks of what could happen to them if they decide to sell their organs. This must be changed in the future ( Caplan 309). There are many people involved in organ sales these so called middle men are working all over the world trying to find the next victim in order for them to make a fortune.
Selling your organ or organs is a crime and it involves several people; the recruiter that finds the vulnerable victim, the transporter who knows how to deliver the organs to the doctor, doctor hospital or clinic. Perhaps many other people belong in this line of criminals trying to take advantage of the poor. People will go to extreme measures to save their families. Perhaps you were wondering what do they get compensated for selling their most valuable thing a person can own. Can one really put a dollar amount on an irreplaceable organ that comes out of your body? Unfortunately these victims do not understand that they are the losers in this transaction. The winners are the people getting the transaction to happen. “The middle men” these middle men do not stop to think of what the consequences could possibly be or the harm done to these victims and their love ones. There only thinking of the money that is going into their pockets or huge bank accounts (Caplan
308).

It appears that the only way to stop this routine victimization of poor people who are so desperate that they end up selling their own body parts to get money is the legalization of people selling their body parts.
There are a group of people that feel selling organs should be legalized, they think well perhaps one person might be close to death and if he or she sells a healthy body part before he or she dies they would be able to save another life. However the way the system works now elderly people, homeless people, down syndrome or mentally challenged children or people could be unknowingly cohorts to give up their organs just to save a rich person’s life. This rich person could be near the end of his life; but because his rich he thinks perhaps I could get an organ and live another year or two. He is not thinking where these organs come from. Also there is the possibility that there is a very well-off person that needs a new liver. But he needs a new liver because he spent his entire life as an alcoholic. He may even get a new liver and then he continues drinking and would be dead in two months. Anyway because of the consequences of his continuing off to abuse his liver. On the other side of the cons of the legalization of organ transplants perhaps there is a child with liver cancer that will die unless he gets a transplant. There are many humanitarian in the world who would before their life is over would wish to give up their own body parts to save a
young child’s life. This is the debate over legalization of organ transplants. Perhaps, it should not be legalized just in order for rich people to be on a first come first serve bases but a more fare system of choosing who receives the organs. This would be thrown upon the court system and governments to decide.
What is truly clear is that the black market sale of organs does not work in a fair or just way. Laws are being broken, peoples physical and mental lives are being ruined, children are being left homeless and much harm is being done to society in general. The sale of organs on the black market is a recurring problem that needs to be dealt with. So far the government has refused to addressed this very serious issue. Selling organs on the black market is a moral and people need to be educated on the consequences of selling their organs on the black market.