CTIR Episode 109: Selling Body Parts
Introduction
 Prize contest. MUST live in US (maybe exception with Canada).
 EM from listener Kevin stating that he liked the CEO wages episode and
enjoys the show notes.
Why talk about it?
 The recent Planned Parenthood video discussed the sale of fetal body parts.
Statistics
 Currently, 122,000 Americans are waiting for organs.
o In the next year, only 23% of them will receive organs. Of those who
need kidneys, only 17% will.
 More than 10,000 Americans or more die every year on the waiting list.
The National Organ Transplant Act
 Congressional law designed to create a network for more efficient organ
donation, keep data on transplants, and prohibit “valuable consideration” for
organ donation.
 The law passed in 1983, over a great deal of outrage over a witness who
testified that the government should buy kidneys from living donors (most,
if not all, would come from developing countries).
o The witness was H. Barry Jacobs, the head of a Virginia company
who announced a plan in 1983 to buy and sell human organs on the
market. This plan put healthy human kidneys in the price range of up
to $10,000 plus a 2000-5000 commission fee.
o At the time there was a 80% survival rate for kidney transplants.
 It was signed by President Ronald Reagan. His statement at the signing:
o “This bipartisan legislation provides a framework that should help
increase the overall supply of much needed organs.”
 At the time the law was passed, about 10,000 were waiting for organs.
o Remember, today there are more than 120,000 waiting for organs.
 “It shall be unlawful for any person to knowingly acquire, receive, or
otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in
human transplantation.”
o Fine of no more than 50,000 and/or 5 years in prison.
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o Consideration does NOT include the travel, storage, housing, lost
wages (this is what was discussed in the Planned Parenthood videos –
so, people are making money).
o Donating organs can cost anywhere between $5,000 and 20,000 and
six weeks out of work.
The law made it illegal to compensate organ donors, but did NOT prevent
payment for other forms of donations (i.e. human plasma, sperm, and egg
cells).
Donors are allowed to receive compensation for medical expenses ONLY.
Travel and lodging expenses as well as having to take time off of work are
also included but only AFTER the expenses are incurred.
It also created a waiting list system that is run by the United Network for
Organ Sharing.
o There is an application process and individuals have to be accepted as
a candidate.
Since the law was passed, more Americans have died in the process of
waiting for an organ than in WWI and II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and
Iraq combined.
In contrast, in Iran, the government and local charities nearly eliminated its
kidney donation waiting list by creating a legal organ market (the
government pays citizens for the donations; the sale is legal).
o However, conditions such as obesity, alcoholism, diabetes, high blood
pressure, etc. disqualifies a majority of Americans from donating.
Henrietta Lacks
 “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”
 Lacks was a black woman farmer with five children from Virginia who got
cervical cancer when she was 30. A doctor at John Hopkins took a piece of
her tumor (after she died at the hospital in 1951) without telling her (she was
dead) OR her family and later used it for research. Her cells were the first
immortal human cells ever grown (the first time a human cell line had
survived outside the body). They were essential to developing the polio
vaccine and have been used in other scientific advancements.
 It was not until 1973 that her children discovered, by accident, that their
mother’s cells were used by a thriving medical industry.
o The doctor who initially took the cells – who died in 1970 – did NOT
make money from it.
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Moore v. Regents (1990).
 Moore was a cancer patient at UCLA Medical Center where his doctor, over
a period of several years, removed blood and other fluids from him that were
later patented for commercial use.
 Issue: Did Moore retain an ownership interest in the cells?
 The Court (a circuit court) held that no Moore did not. It cited a CA statute
which ordered that any materials removed from patients be disposed of in a
safe matter. The legislative intent was to limit the patients ownership of any
material excised in the course of medical treatment. This wasn’t a new idea.
The laws that governed such things as human tissue, fetuses, blood, dead
bodies, etc, “deal with human biological materials as objects sui generis,
regulating their disposition to achieve policy goals rather than abandoning
them to the general law of personal property.”
 As a note, the case dealt mainly with the tort of conversion, fiduciary duties
and informed consent NOT theft.
 Conversion is an “actual interference with his ownership or right of
possession.”
o But since the court held that he didn’t have a ownership right, no
conversion could be found.
o But the court did state that Moore was protected by the fiduciary duty
and informed consent theories. However, that doesn’t change the fact
that the body materials taken were NOT his property.
 Bottom line, it is in the interest of public policy to allow the removal of body
materials. So there is no right to any future property interest in the materials
or materials made thereof.
The Organ Trafficking Black Market
 Of course, because there is demand a supply will be found.
 In one NY Times article, about 44 people were arrested in one of the most
sweeping bribery investigations in NJ: a businessman was accused of trying
to broker the purchase of a kidney for $160,000.
o Although there are worldwide bans on the selling of organs, “a shady
world of unscrupulous doctors, concocted relationships and hotels
used as recovery rooms” exists.
o In India, authorities broke up a ring involving doctors and hospitals
that had performed 500 illegal transplants of organs to rich Indians
and foreigners. Most of the donors were paid up to $2,500 a kidney.
Some were forced to give up organs at gunpoint.
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 The World Health Organization estimates that about 10% of the 63,000
kidneys transplanted worldwide have been bought illegally.
Organs as a Commodity
 The value of any organs depends on its quality. For example, an American
organ will cost more than a Chinese organ. This is generally due to health
considerations.
 Prices of organs in America:
o Eggs (8,000). Takes a long time.
o Sperm (100). Doesn’t take as long. Danish men will make more
money.
o Womb – surrogacy (45,000). In the states where this is legal, it is
extremely expensive – only the rich can afford it.
o Blood (NO compensation is allowed under the FDA). But gifts cards
and rewards are allowed. And yes, this doesn’t make sense but that is
because the government can enforce it and because studies show gift
cards work.
o Hair (100-4000).
Solutions
 The Ruling Class.
o Think Progress:
 High health care costs, however, often prevent many people
from carrying out the altruistic act. That’s part of the reason
why the number of patients in the United States in need of a
healthy organ currently stands at more than 120,000, according
to the National Kidney Foundation.
o Institute a presumed consent system. Have it on your ID – you would
have to opt out in order to NOT have organs donated. Implemented in
Spain with success. Only a 15% national rate of refusal.
 This discards any notion of property and the idea of consent.
How does one limit this?
 Libertarian.
o Ron Paul.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qndMA59PydU
 Play 0-1:43.
 It can be in the donors self-interest (NOT only money but also
feels good helping others.
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o Voluntary exchange.
 CTIR: “A consensual agreement between two parties.”
 Theft: “taking property without consent.”
o Non-aggression principle.
 Aggression against another is immoral.
 Aggression is the initiation of the use or threat of physical
violence against another.
 Threat is probable imminent action.
 Another is a human and his or her property.
 Self defense is a reasonable or proportional response to
aggression.
 The Golden Rule.
o Treat others the way you would want to be treated.
In Episode 109 of CTIR, I discuss Selling Body Parts (I couldn’t think of a better
title). Specifically, I analyze the pros and cons of government intervention in
prohibiting the sale of organs. I also review the legal framework behind the lack of
property rights in an individual’s body.
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The intro song is titled "I Disagree" by 20 Riverside.
The outro song is titled "Good Medicine" by 20 Riverside.
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Sources:
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https://mises.org/library/competitive-market-human-organs
http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2014/10/24/congress-can-save-thousands-oflives-by-repealing-the-prohibition-against-paying-organ-donors/
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http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/11/20/3595088/organ-transplant-issues/
http://healthblog.ncpa.org/what-we-can-learn-from-iran-about-organ-donation/
http://www.history.com/news/organ-transplants-a-brief-history
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Organ_Transplant_Act_of_1984
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=39282
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/07/the-real-problem-with-spermbanks.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400052181?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative
ASIN=1400052181&linkCode=xm2&tag=smithsonianco-20
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/henrietta-lacks-immortal-cells6421299/?no-ist
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/apr/04/henrietta-lacks-cancer-cells
http://www.casebriefs.com/blog/law/property/property-law-keyed-to-cribbet/nontraditional-objects-and-classifications-of-property/moore-v-regents-of-theuniversity-of-california-2/2/
http://scocal.stanford.edu/opinion/moore-v-regents-university-california-31115
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/nyregion/30organs.html?pagewanted=all&_r
=0
https://www.unos.org/transplantation/faqs/
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/10/136931615/blood-bones-and-organs-thegruesome-red-market
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/07/14/the-real-story-behind-thatshady-planned-parenthood-video.html
http://www.theguardian.com/money/us-money-blog/2014/jan/31/flu-governmentsell-egg-sperm-body
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http://nypost.com/2013/11/16/its-time-to-make-paid-surrogacy-legal-in-new-york/
http://arstechnica.com/science/2013/05/offering-rewards-boosts-blood-donationsdespite-ban-on-payments/
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/opinion/sunday/the-unregulated-spermindustry.html?_r=0
http://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2015/07/21/a-surprising-percentage-ofamericans-are-totally-fine-with-planned-parenthood-selling-aborted-babies-bodyparts-n2028350
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marciaclark/2013/06/13/selling-your-organs-shouldit-be-legal-do-you-own-yourself/
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/03/health/allowed-sell-organs-time/
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/right-sell-organs
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/world/europe/black-market-for-body-partsspreads-in-europe.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/organs-sale/
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/sale-ofhuman-organs-should-be-legalised-say-surgeons-2176110.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/11/why-legalizing-organ-saleswould-help-to-save-lives-end-violence/248114/
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/42/274e
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qndMA59PydU
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