Now Playing at Reason.tv: Drew Carey on Human Organ Markets

In his most controversial segment yet, reason.tv host Drew Carey offers a startling solution to the critical shortage in kidneys available for transplant: Pay people to donate their kidneys.

Featuring former reason editor—and organ donor—Virginia Postrel.

Click on the image below to watch "Organ Transplants: Kidneys for Sale."

Comments

Abdul | March 18, 2008, 8:08am | #

Paying for human organs? Didn't the Spitzer scandal spark a couple 200+ post threads on paying for organs?

DADIODADDY | March 18, 2008, 8:20am | #

Abdul
that was orgasms, not organs...I'm getting real tired of people who can't spell.

JohnD | March 18, 2008, 8:38am | #

The solution is simple. Harvest organs from people on death row. Don't execute them, just keep taking organs until they can no longer sustain life.

Warty | March 18, 2008, 8:57am | #

No, I do believe Spitzer was paying to rent organs.

JohnD: Read Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Taktix® | March 18, 2008, 9:37am | #

The solution is simple. Harvest organs from people on death row. Don't execute them, just keep taking organs until they can no longer sustain life.

Combined with stem cell advancements, perhaps we could use prisoners as organ incubators. The prison system could earn ton of money, and who cares about those criminals anyway? They are the ones who put themselves there anyway.

We could even give them tattoos to identify what organs they are working on.

(I tried to convey sarcasm by reductio ad absurdum, but as I write, I realize that I would not be surprised if this were already happening).

Cracker's Boy | March 18, 2008, 9:51am | #

Does anybody have any testicles they'd like to sell? My wife has mine, and I'd like to have a couple that she doesn't know about.

CB

LarryA | March 18, 2008, 10:05am | #

Does anybody have any testicles they'd like to sell? My wife has mine, and I'd like to have a couple that she doesn't know about.

You mean like a Spitzer pair?

Maurkov | March 18, 2008, 12:04pm | #

"Pay people to donate"

I thought there was a word for that. Help me out here. "Sell?"

Tom R | March 18, 2008, 12:51pm | #

Damn right organ trade should be legal

Funny thing is Iran actually allows this

Robert F. Hickey, Ph.D. | March 18, 2008, 2:13pm | #

Organs are already sold. The euphemism is, Organ Recovery Fee. They ae sold by a private government contractor, The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and its affiliates, the Organ Procureent Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the 58 Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO) across the country. In 2006 this unholy alliance made more than $2 billion in revenues from organ sales and patient registration fees for the national waiting list. (Source:www.guidestar.com) You just can't call it organ sales so they call itorgan recovery fees. NO ONE EVER GETS AN ORGAN DONATED TO THEM! NO ONE!!!. The UNOS/OPTN/OPO are grave robbers who don't need shovels. Google: Ruben Navarro. Read that story on grave robbing by the unholy alliance.

Al | March 18, 2008, 2:30pm | #

Please explain how this *doesn't* lead to legalized cannibalism. I'm . . . just . . . sayin' . . .

kelley | March 18, 2008, 2:54pm | #

The Onion headline: "Anonymous Philanthropist Donates 200 Human Kidneys To Hospital"

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/anonymous_philanthropist_donates

Mark | March 18, 2008, 7:04pm | #

Those Showcase prizes keep getting better and better.

Betty | March 20, 2008, 6:50am | #

Would someone leave a productive comment? UNOS does not handle all organ donations. Live donors don't go through UNOS at all but they do get priority on the list if they ever need an organ. I really hope the prisoner thing was a joke. You have to remember that this would be really great but the main problem is that it would be a lot less safe. You can't just take any kidney. People with certain diseases that can be passed through blood and tissue (like AIDS) might sell their kidney without knowing they had that yet or caring. Drugies could sell organs for drug money. Which would be another problem with prisoners. Plus just because your in prison doesn't mean you don't have rights to your body. There should be a system of compensation, but it would be extremely hard to regulate this. Lastly, it's really sad that someone can make a joke about donating testicles considering that kidney donation and fertility are huge problems for some people.