Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Dutch organ conundrum

It turned out that the Dutch "reality" show about choosing somebody to get her kidneys when she dies was a bit of a hoax, but producers say they did it for a serious purpose: to call attention to the fact that thousands of Dutch people die while awaiting organ donations because Dutch law is so restrictive.

But almost nobody is ready to suggest that the way to resolve the problem is to create a market in organs and allow donors to be paid and those who receive them to pay. Because of restrictive laws there is already a lively black market in organs. But authorities and "responsible" people worldwide seem to think it's better to allow people to die unnecessarily than to allow anything so evil and corrupting as honest and open commerce.

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