The Organ Dispute- Is Selling Organs Ethical?

            Organ donating is a great thing, but after reading an article I feel that allowing people to sell organs is taking it too far. Many ethical issues must be taken into consideration such as the following.

Selling a body part may lead people to view organs as another commodity. Our bodies are special and are our own and definitely should never be used to pay the mortgage or be exposed to such risk.

 I feel that it is too much of a risk for people to donate organs such as a kidney. They will forever live with the fear that they may some day need it when facing serious injury or illness.

  I also want to address that poor people will most obviously use the method of selling organs more so than the wealthy. The poor should not be utilized out of desperation for money because that directly takes out the true definition of “voluntary”. Voluntary would mean giving organs without the request of money; a genuine human notion.

           

After reading a pro-selling article my opinion does slightly stagger. Wilkinson makes a great point that each person has a choice on what to do with his or her body. Each day someone does something to his or her body not linked to organ selling that is criticized by at least one person.  Who is to say what is ethical or not to do to your body? It is also hard to ignore the fact that organ selling may increase the supply of organs, which could save thousands of lives. But would the donor’s health be affected by losing organs? If so, to what severity? That is my biggest concern when viewing organ selling as an option.pro-selling article

Henrietta Lacks Opinions

After reading the synopsis of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks I feel it is incredibly important that stories like Henrietta’s be told to the public. Cells were taken from her body without her knowledge and used for medical research. Our population usually likes to believe that we know what is being performed on us and taken from our bodies in medical procedures but that is very wrong. Many doctors have been taking biological samples from many people and using it for medical research. The doctors have great intentions in mind, but our bodies are one of the very few things in this world that we truly own. Shouldn’t we have the right to know where our biological samples are going? The public should be aware of what is happening at hospitals so the “no consent” process can successfully be challenged.

            Writing a book about such a debatable topic for a broad audience must come with challenges. Skloot must decide if she finds it acceptable to take biological samples with no consent or she must decide to keep her book unbiased. Many people do not know the medical lingo so it is important that she be able to easily explain terms in the book. Some people may feel overwhelmed if statistics or “big words” overtake the page while some may feel uninterested if the book is too easy of a read with not enough data.

            As a reader I am anxious to read a true story that will challenge me.  The biggest challenge of this book will be ultimately deciding whether I truly believe it is acceptable to take biological samples without consent.  It will be difficult to understand medical terminology if it is not explained thoroughly. I am very excited to take on these challenges and learn Henrietta’s story.