Oh, dear. “Why Selling Kidneys Should Be Legal.”
Yes. Yes, by all means, let us establish that one’s internal organs have an official market value. Let’s get to a point where Larry Niven’s “The Jigsaw Man” is even closer to segueing from dystopian science fiction to something that will give the People’s Republic of China even more ‘helpful’ ideas. It’ll be a hoot.
For a while. As the man says: everybody gets sick sometimes.
Via Instapundit – and I am certain that Glenn’s read that story.
Axlotl Tanks! Yay!
Of course after the death panels are convened, the only people who will get kidney transplants are the “elite” anyways, thus solving the supply/demand mismatch differently. So in the NY Times view, I’m not sure what they see the problem as, since that’s the outcome they’re been pushing for.
IIRC, Glenn is in favor of selling organs.
When I had my appendix removed, I asked the surgeon if I could have it so I could display it as a trophy in a jar of formaldehyde on my desk. She said she couldn’t do that — in California, at least, it’s illegal for private individuals to own body parts, even their own.
However uncomfortable I may be with the idea of people selling their own organs, I’m even less comfortable with the idea that our bodies are actually the property of the State. The government is essentially telling us that it owns us, and it won’t allow us to make decisions about our own bodies lest we make bad decisions; far better to let the government make those decisions, because the government is always right.