Was Ruth Sparrow Wrong to Try to Sell Her Kidney? - Essay Sample

Introduction

Ruth Sparrow was not wrong to sell her kidney to settle the hospital bills. This is because according to the utilitarianism ethical theory, an action is morally right if it aims at bringing more happiness than sadness (Mandal et al. 5). Based on the scenario that Ruth Sparrow was facing, it was evident that she could not afford to pay her medical bills after the surgery and selling the kidney was the only option that she had to save her life. It is worth noting that the issue of selling a kidney or any other body organ is not always wrong as some people may consider like it was in the case of Ruth Sparrow.

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Many people need a working kidney to save their lives. Therefore, people that are willing to donate or sell their kidneys should not be punished or charges with a felony since they are doing so to help someone to stay. Furthermore, Ruth was also selling the organ to settle the medical bills for the surgery that saved her life. The same law that applies to the sperm and egg banks should also apply equally to all cases of organ sale (Dalal 44). This is because while the sperm and egg banks make money by selling these organs, people like Ruth are charged for selling their kidney. Eggs and sperms are organs just like any other, and if they are allowed to trade these organs, then, even people willing to sell their kidneys should not be turned down especially if it does not put the donor's body in danger.

Give three reasons that some people would be against payment for organ donation.

The first reason is that it will benefit the rich while the poor will be at a disadvantage. This is because the poor may not have the required money to pay for the organs when the need arises, and therefore they cannot access the organ in the time of need. On the other hand, the rich often have medical insurances and also have a lot of disposable income that can be used to finance the medical expenses especially when in need of purchasing an organ. This means that most of the people from the poor backgrounds that may need an organ to save their life will end up dying due to lack of money while the rich will always survive since they have the money to purchase the organs.

The second reason is that sometimes, one may pay for an organ that is not compatible with their bodies. This can be a massive loss of resources especially after paying a lot of money to acquire the organ then the body rejects it yet it does not serve the intended purpose.

The third reason is that one may purchase an organ from a donor who has a health history of poor health and health complications. In most cases, once the transplant occurs, these problems may reappear in the future affecting the recipient. This is a disadvantage since while the transplant is intended to solve a health problem, it instead creates more health problems even after paying a lot of money to acquire the organ.

Recently, charges were brought against two Chinese citizens for trying to sell the organs of men sentenced to death in Chinese prisons. Human rights activists are not sure that the prisoners consented to have their organs removed after death. The Chinese claim they use only volunteers. Explain how you feel about this practice, and why.

I feel that the two Chinese Citizens should not be charged for removing the organs for the men sentenced to death within the Chinese prisons; however, they should not sell the organs (Caplan 3). This is because these men will eventually die and removing their organs would help to save lives for many people who need these organs. Based on the utilitarianism ethical theory, an action is considered to be morally right if it creates maximum benefits to the majority of the people (Mandal et al. 6). In this case, removing the organs from the people sentenced to die will help to save may live out there in the hospitals, and therefore it is a moral act. Furthermore, these prisoners have already volunteered to donate their organs to save the lives of people in danger. In this case, the human rights activists should not turn down this action as it is for the good of the majority of the people. Nonetheless, they should not be allowed to sell the organs since the prisoners gave their organs freely. Instead, they should donate to needy people in hospitals. This is because these citizens tends to take advantage of the prisoners' death to make money by selling their organs.

In a recent newscast, a woman was asked if she would accept a kidney from a prisoner on death row. She said, "I wouldn't because I'd be afraid I'd get his personality." Is she wrong or right?

She is wrong. This is because receiving a kidney from a prisoner does not mean that she will inherit their personalities. In most of the cases, the patients that require a transplant do not have a choice, all they need is saving their lives and therefore the personality of the donor does not matter (Basu, and Ghosh 391). What matters when faced with such an emergency is the availability of the organ. Therefore, the woman is wrong since she should first focus on saving her life. However, it is worth noting that the cell memory transferred through the neurons of the organ can make it a possibility to receive part of the donor's personality.

Work Cited

Basu, D, and A Ghosh. "Kidney donation: Clinical practice and ethical dilemmas". Indian Journal of Nephrology, vol 26, no. 6, 2016, p. 391-392. Medknow, doi:10.4103/0971-4065.179200. Accessed 6 Mar 2019.

Caplan, A. "Bioethics of organ transplantation". Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, vol 4, no. 3, 2014, pp. a015685-a015685. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a015685. Accessed 6 Mar 2019.

Dalal, Aparna R. "Philosophy of organ donation: Review of ethical facets". World Journal of Transplantation, vol 5, no. 2, 2015, p. 44-51. Baishideng Publishing Group Inc., doi:10.5500/wjt.v5.i2.44. Accessed 6 Mar 2019.

Mandal, Jharna et al. "Utilitarian and deontological ethics in medicine". Tropical Parasitology, vol 6, no. 1, 2016, p. 5-7. Medknow, doi:10.4103/2229-5070.175024. Accessed 6 Mar 2019.