From the New Jersey bust thread:

---

"Those arrested included Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, who was charged with conspiring to arrange the sale of an Israeli citizen's kidney for $160,000 for a transplant for the informant's fictitious uncle. Rosenbaum was quoted as saying he had been arranging the sale of kidneys for 10 years."

This got me to thinking. Why is it illegal for an adult of sound mind to sell one of his kidneys? He needs the money but can do without one of his kidneys; someone else has plenty of money, but will die or be condemned to a life of dialysis without the kidney. It's a win-win situation and no one has been harmed.

So why is it illegal? Because people shouldn't be able to circumvent the system to get first in line because they have money? People with money get preferential healthcare treatment every day. Because people shouldn't be selling their body parts? People have sold their blood for years.

I'm not on a crusade here, I'm just wondering.

From what I recall, it wasn't illegal for the original patient to sell their kidney. The rabbi was buying that kidney for $10,000 and then he was arranging for the person to get the kidney transplant and the rabbi was then charging that recipient $160,000 for that donated kidney.

---

Not only that, they were lying about the recipient being a relative so they were skipping the whole waiting list process, which I am not very familiar with.

Originally Posted by Black-n-Red

From what I recall, it wasn't illegal for the original patient to sell their kidney. The rabbi was buying that kidney for $10,000 and then he was arranging for the person to get the kidney transplant and the rabbi was then charging that recipient $160,000 for that donated kidney.

Not only that, they were lying about the recipient being a relative so they were skipping the whole waiting list process, which I am not very familiar with.

I may be wrong, but I believe it is illegal to sell your organs. Even if it isn't, why shouldn't it be legal to broker them as the rabbi did? If it were legal, he couldn't charge such an outageous amount, just as a drug dealer couldn't if drugs were legal (not that I think they should be, but legalizing it cuts the profits).

I'm guessing the reason is that you could have some pretty shady deals where some drug addict (or anyone down on their luck) wants to sell some organs to pay off some debts and the next thing they know, something goes wrong in the hospital and they get very sick/die and you have lawsuits up the whazzoo....

Wonder if these kidneys were coming from Gaza or the West Bank; Israel has a high standard of living for people to give up an organ for $10g.

Originally Posted by Black-n-Red

I'm guessing the reason is that you could have some pretty shady deals where some drug addict (or anyone down on their luck) wants to sell some organs to pay off some debts and the next thing they know, something goes wrong in the hospital and they get very sick/die and you have lawsuits up the whazzoo....

If it were legal and regulated, the organs would presumably be safer than the black market ones currently available.

Originally Posted by Spider

From the New Jersey bust thread:

"Those arrested included Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, who was charged with conspiring to arrange the sale of an Israeli citizen's kidney for $160,000 for a transplant for the informant's fictitious uncle. Rosenbaum was quoted as saying he had been arranging the sale of kidneys for 10 years."

This got me to thinking. Why is it illegal for an adult of sound mind to sell one of his kidneys? He needs the money but can do without one of his kidneys; someone else has plenty of money, but will die or be condemned to a life of dialysis without the kidney. It's a win-win situation and no one has been harmed.

So why is it illegal? Because people shouldn't be able to circumvent the system to get first in line because they have money? People with money get preferential healthcare treatment every day. Because people shouldn't be selling their body parts? People have sold their blood for years.

I'm not on a crusade here, I'm just wondering.

Voluntary organ donation would be severely impacted. Parts would go to highest bidder limiting the supply for those that can't afford the cost.

Originally Posted by RYou

Voluntary organ donation would be severely impacted. Parts would go to highest bidder limiting the supply for those that can't afford the cost.

Voluntary donations from family members or from recently deceased people who have agreed to donate their organs probably wouldn't change at all, and I wonder how many people now actually agree to donate organs to strangers. Ideally, the system we have now would remain the same, but a concurrent system of purchased organs would also exist.

Originally Posted by Spider

Voluntary donations from family members or from recently deceased people who have agreed to donate their organs probably wouldn't change at all, and I wonder how many people now actually agree to donate organs to strangers. Ideally, the system we have now would remain the same, but a concurrent system of purchased organs would also exist.

Ideally, we all hope. But as soon as selling becomes legal, the brokers will be more rAmpant than lawyers on the tube at 2 AM. "Leave a little something for your family", let Brennan, Galvin and Strich be your scavengers of choice."

Instead of donating, many will opt to make a buck on the way to the pearly gates.