Organ Donor, Life Donor

On average, 16 people a day die of kidney failure. You only need one kidney to survive, but most people have two functional kidneys, so the world contains approximately (slightly less than) twice as many functional kidneys as it needs to keep every person alive. Despite the huge surplus, for some reason the people with an extra kidney lying around just aren't giving them up.

Of course the reason they aren't giving them up is obvious: no one want to undergo a surgery for a stranger, so the only people that donate kidneys are the people that know the recipient or are really, really altruistic.

While a person may not be willing to give up a kidney for nothing, inevitable some people are willing to sell a kidney. The solution to this problem is then obvious: create a market. People who need money will sell their kidney, and people suffering from kidney failure will buy a kidney. Both parties benefits from the transaction, otherwise, they wouldn't enter into it.

Unfortunately, in the U.S. it's illegal to sell your kidney, so 16 people a year will continue to die unnecessarily.

Some people think that if we allowed people to sell their kidneys, the rich who need organs will take advantage of the poor, who need money. It's probably true that the people willing to sell their organs are going to mostly be poor people, probably from poor countries. I certainly would sell my kidney, but someone would have to pay me a lot of money. Someone is the Philippines will undoubtedly sell for considerably less. But it's awfully paternalistic of our government to prohibit two willing adult parties from entering into a transaction that benefits both parties and doesn't affect anyone else (i.e., there are no negative externalities). The poor people clearly care more about the money than the superfluous organ.

Now, that above is the libertarian argument for allowing parties to sell their organs, and it's my basic position on the issue too. However, I do wonder about the following: what if a healthy individual wants to sell his heart for a hefty sum. Should he be allowed to end his life and sell his heart to an individual in need of a heart, with the money from the transaction going to his family? I find this senario very troubling, and yet, I can't see a principlied difference between this situation and the one above.