Blog post about the morality of organ selling

One of the Kantian arguments to Organ selling is that it interferes with one’s autonomy, namely the one who is selling their organ, and therefore it is not worth the good it produces, i.e. saving someone’s life who needed said organ. While I agree that it is harmful for a person to have his or her autonomy violated in the cases of coerced prostitution, I believe that one’s autonomy would not fully be defiled in the case of organ selling because of the check-ups to ensure that person’s health after the procedure. According Living Renal Transplantation very few people who donate kidney’s receive disease as a result, “Studies have repeatedly shown that the risk of developing end-stage renal disease (ESRD) was 03–0.05%17,18 and that survival of the donors who have been properly screened is similar, if not superior, compared with the general population.” This shows me that if organ selling is legitimately controlled and regulated by the government, as it is in Iran, the donor’s autonomy will not be violated. That being said, in order to preserve donors autonomy there must be adequate compensation and safe-guards put up to protect them. The black market, on the other hand, which just slices open the donors and gives them inadequate health-care and compensation, does violate the donors autonomy, which is what makes it morally wrong.