Bioethical Issues: Selling Plasma, Blood, Marrow, Organs?

[bigfootbob]

I was listening to part of a radio show at work today, and the guest was talking about bioethical issues. The subject of selling plasma, organs, etc. came up, and the guest said that he thought receiving compensation for these other than your cost of donating was wrong.

Unfortunately, I either missed part of the conversation, or he didn’t spend much time talking about it.

I personally have donated (Okay, sold) plasma, and I don’t understand why he thinks it is wrong. As I understand it, there really isn’t any risk to my health, and my body will just produce more. Truthfully, I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t for the money. I know a number of Catholics that I consider to be devout that sell plasma also.

Also, I know that it is currently illegal in the US to sell organs. I assume there is an insufficient supply of them to meet the demand, resulting in the deaths of people who need them. If it were legal to sell organs and the price was allowed to reach an equilibrium, the supply would meet the demand. I realize this is a little different than selling plasma, and I don’t necessarily agree with it, but is there a potential ethical challenge here?

I would like to hear some opinions and reasoning, and some official Church teachings would be even more helpful.

 

[jeannetherese]

I would refer you to issues concerning the kidnapping of children for body parts as a starting place. Latin Americanists have been discussing this concern for at least the past ten years, and it is in the mainstream news as well. See below for link to 2007 article.

reuters.com/article/2007/06/16/idUSN16314264

In adition, a cursory google search, brought me to theis advice from Canada to its tourists travelling abroad. Please note that this is current information:

voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=112000

"General Safety

It is highly recommended never to approach or photograph children and women, since many people in Guatemala fear that children are being kidnapped for adoption or for theft of vital organs. Violent incidents involving foreigners have occurred.
The incidence of vigilante justice has increased in rural areas, resulting in several incidents of lynching of suspected child kidnappers and other delinquents. Canadians should avoid large crowds and gatherings due to the unpredictability of crowd behaviour. Maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all times.
It may be difficult to obtain police assistance. Police forces lack resources and are often corrupt."

Would you feel safe travelling alone in a place where you might bee seen as a source of ready capital to those in need? Unfortunately, there are people in this world who are prepared to treat others as disposable. For current examples watch the abortion and euthanasia debates in the United States, as well as embryonic research, and embryonic stem cell research concerns. For a general discussion of embryonic stem cell research issues see below:

seattlemet.com/health-and-fitness/articles/dr-deisher-stem-cell-lawsuit-august-2011/

I hope this helps you get started with your research. May God bless us all!

 

[thistle]

I was listening to part of a radio show at work today, and the guest was talking about bioethical issues. The subject of selling plasma, organs, etc. came up, and the guest said that he thought receiving compensation for these other than your cost of donating was wrong.

Unfortunately, I either missed part of the conversation, or he didn’t spend much time talking about it.

I personally have donated (Okay, sold) plasma, and I don’t understand why he thinks it is wrong. As I understand it, there really isn’t any risk to my health, and my body will just produce more. Truthfully, I wouldn’t do it if it wasn’t for the money. I know a number of Catholics that I consider to be devout that sell plasma also.

Also, I know that it is currently illegal in the US to sell organs. I assume there is an insufficient supply of them to meet the demand, resulting in the deaths of people who need them. If it were legal to sell organs and the price was allowed to reach an equilibrium, the supply would meet the demand. I realize this is a little different than selling plasma, and I don’t necessarily agree with it, but is there a potential ethical challenge here?

I would like to hear some opinions and reasoning, and some official Church teachings would be even more helpful.

CCC 2296 Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, it is not morally admissible to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.

 

[robwar]

I would refer you to issues concerning the kidnapping of children for body parts as a starting place. Latin Americanists have been discussing this concern for at least the past ten years, and it is in the mainstream news as well. See below for link to 2007 article.

reuters.com/article/2007/06/16/idUSN16314264

In adition, a cursory google search, brought me to theis advice from Canada to its tourists travelling abroad. Please note that this is current information:

voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=112000

"General Safety

It is highly recommended never to approach or photograph children and women, since many people in Guatemala fear that children are being kidnapped for adoption or for theft of vital organs. Violent incidents involving foreigners have occurred.
The incidence of vigilante justice has increased in rural areas, resulting in several incidents of lynching of suspected child kidnappers and other delinquents. Canadians should avoid large crowds and gatherings due to the unpredictability of crowd behaviour. Maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all times.
It may be difficult to obtain police assistance. Police forces lack resources and are often corrupt."

Would you feel safe travelling alone in a place where you might bee seen as a source of ready capital to those in need? Unfortunately, there are people in this world who are prepared to treat others as disposable. For current examples watch the abortion and euthanasia debates in the United States, as well as embryonic research, and embryonic stem cell research concerns. For a general discussion of embryonic stem cell research issues see below:

seattlemet.com/health-and-fitness/articles/dr-deisher-stem-cell-lawsuit-august-2011/

I hope this helps you get started with your research. May God bless us all!

having had adopted 2 from Guatemala, the belief that children are being used for organs is just a terrible “urban myth” Stuff like this hurts the efforts of giving loving homes to children that need them. There is absolutely no truth to these rumors and it is sad to see it mentioned here. Guatemala is now closed to US adoptions anyway. The mention of taking picture of women and children doesn’t just apply to south of the border, it applies everywhere. As a rule of thumb, you should not be taking a picture of anyone unless you have their permission. I was just in AZ and on reservation land and the native Americans likewise do not want their pictures taken unless you ask and it is sad to see how thoughtless and disrespectful others are and just snap away treating them as if they are cartoon characters. I know this is off topic but it is upsetting to see terrible beliefs about adoption, that children are being used for body parts brought up here.
Since I work in a blood bank, American Red Cross does not pay anyone for blood donations. There are too many issues there and it has more to do with the fact that often people such as drug and alcohol abusers were donating to get money. Sadly, these people have high rates of HIV and other diseases that would render their blood useless. Maybe you were paid in the past for a plasma pheresis donation but that is not done anymore and it has more to do with safety than ethical issues.

 

[bigfootbob]

CCC 2296 Organ transplants are in conformity with the moral law if the physical and psychological dangers and risks to the donor are proportionate to the good sought for the recipient. Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as a expression of generous solidarity. It is not morally acceptable if the donor or his proxy has not given explicit consent. Moreover, it is not morally admissible to bring about the disabling mutilation or death of a human being, even in order to delay the death of other persons.

Thank you… it doesn’t say anything about receiving compensation, although it would obviously be wrong in those circumstances.

Since I work in a blood bank, American Red Cross does not pay anyone for blood donations. There are too many issues there and it has more to do with the fact that often people such as drug and alcohol abusers were donating to get money. Sadly, these people have high rates of HIV and other diseases that would render their blood useless. Maybe you were paid in the past for a plasma pheresis donation but that is not done anymore and it has more to do with safety than ethical issues.

The guest on the radio show also mentioned that as a reason why people should not be compensated for blood donations. They still pay you for plasma (I gave plasma this year), but they might not for blood donations.

 

[robwar]

Thank you… it doesn’t say anything about receiving compensation, although it would obviously be wrong in those circumstances.

The guest on the radio show also mentioned that as a reason why people should not be compensated for blood donations. They still pay you for plasma (I gave plasma this year), but they might not for blood donations.

The compensation for a plasma pheresis could be for your time since it takes longer than the standard blood donation and again is not due to “buying your blood”

 

[bigfootbob]

Anyone??? Someone must have an opinion

 

[Dale_M]

Anyone??? Someone must have an opinion

Here is what Pope John Paul II had to say about the matter:

With the advent of organ transplantation, which began with blood transfusions, man has found a way to give of himself, of his blood and of his body, so that others may continue to live. Thanks to science, and to the professional training and commitment of doctors and health-care workers, whose collaboration is less obvious but no less indispensable for the outcome of complicated surgical operations, new and wonderful challenges are presented. We are challenged to love our neighbour in new ways; in evangelical terms, to love “to the end” (Cf. Jn. 13:1), yet within certain limits which cannot be exceeded, limits laid down by human nature itself.

1. Above all, this form of treatment is inseparable from a human act of donation. In effect, transplantation presupposes a prior, explicit, free and conscious decision on the part of the donor or of someone who legitimately represents the donor, generally the closest relatives. It is a decision to offer, without reward, a part of one’s own body for the health and well-being of another person. In this sense, the medical action of transplantation makes possible the donor’s act of self-giving, that sincere gift of self which expresses our constitutive calling to love and communion.

Love, communion, solidarity and absolute respect for the dignity of the human person constitute the only legitimate context of organ transplantation. It is essential not to ignore the moral and spiritual values which come into play when individuals, while observing the ethical norms which guarantee the dignity of the human person and bring it to perfection, freely and consciously decide to give a part of themselves, a part of their own body, in order to save the life of another human being.

1. In effect, the human body is always a personal body, the body of a person. The body cannot be treated as a merely physical or biological entity, nor can its organs and tissues ever be used as items for sale or exchange. Such a reductive materialist conception would lead to a merely instrumental use of the body, and therefore of the person. In such a perspective, organ transplantation and the grafting of tissue would no longer correspond to an act of donation but would amount to the dispossession or plundering of a body.

vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1991/june/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19910620_trapianti_en.html

I think the sale of plasma is a morally neutral act, since plasma is regenerated by one’s body. Not so the sale of organs.

In contrast, donating organs, or plasma, to those who are in need, is a moral good.

 

[tabycat]

Anyone??? Someone must have an opinion

I’ve use to sell my plasma when I needed the extra money. If I gave the money any thought, it was that I was helping another person while I was getting paid for my time. :bounce::whacky:

 

[robwar]

as the others have said and pointed out in quotes from JP 2 and CCC, donating your own blood which in a healthy person your own body remakes for the benefit of others and to save lives is very much morally good. To “sell” body parts in order to get money whether you are alive (wanting to lets say sell your kidney in order to get money) is unacceptable because your body should not be for sale, you are made in the image of God. Likewise, to follow the wishes of someone who passed away and donate organs their organs is morally good but to again sell a deceased body parts where someone would financially benefit again is morally wrong (and that is not the deceased). think about all sorts of implications if “selling organs” would be legal. It would lead to more death in that families would pull the plug on grampa in order to cut him up and sell him. kinda sick if you think about it.
Your body belongs to you and God and should not be for sell for any reason. That is also true with reproductive technologies that buy eggs and sperm and where that all leads.

 

[bigfootbob]

Here is what Pope John Paul II had to say about the matter:

vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1991/june/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19910620_trapianti_en.html

I think the sale of plasma is a morally neutral act, since plasma is regenerated by one’s body. Not so the sale of organs.

In contrast, donating organs, or plasma, to those who are in need, is a moral good.

Thanks Dale. You’re the man! (JPII is too!)

I agreed with the priest on the radio show that selling organs was wrong. He said that it was wrong to treat our body parts as commodities, but he alluded that it was wrong to sell plasma for the same reason.

 

[bigfootbob]

as the others have said and pointed out in quotes from JP 2 and CCC, donating your own blood which in a healthy person your own body remakes for the benefit of others and to save lives is very much morally good. To “sell” body parts in order to get money whether you are alive (wanting to lets say sell your kidney in order to get money) is unacceptable because your body should not be for sale, you are made in the image of God. Likewise, to follow the wishes of someone who passed away and donate organs their organs is morally good but to again sell a deceased body parts where someone would financially benefit again is morally wrong (and that is not the deceased). think about all sorts of implications if “selling organs” would be legal. It would lead to more death in that families would pull the plug on grampa in order to cut him up and sell him. kinda sick if you think about it.
Your body belongs to you and God and should not be for sell for any reason. That is also true with reproductive technologies that buy eggs and sperm and where that all leads.

Thanks for the insights.

Yes, there are a lot of implications (besides moral problems) that could be problematic if selling organs was legal. One of the reasons I brought it up was because we had discussed it in an economics class, and I thought it was an interesting topic.