Prior to this discussion, I was unaware of the issue of transplant tourism, namely because it is not the focus of our media, which would prefer to avoid talking about the issue. Doctor Reynolds and doctor O’Connor have presented two opposing views, one of which stated that transplant tourism is unethical, while the other claimed that although there are certain regulatory problems with the practice, it is not inherently unethical. Upon conducting my own research, I found that both speakers are merely skirting the issue and do not represent the entire width and depth of the subject.
In many countries, such as Russia, India, Mexico, Malaysia, the post-soviet republics, as well as the poorer states of Latin America and South Africa, there are criminal organizations that kidnap people and dissect them for organs, in order to sell them at a lower price and attract customers from abroad. Moorlock (2018) reports that roughly 10,000 illegal transplant extractions are performed yearly. The actual numbers may be much higher, as the true scope of the issue is difficult to estimate.
The ethical side of the issue can be analyzed using utilitarian ethics, rights ethics, and Kantian ethics. From a utilitarian perspective, illegal organ trade spawned by transplant tourism hurts many more people than the absence of transplants does. Due to the largely involuntary nature of the transactions, the equivalent would be dissecting a healthy living patient to save five sick ones (Pence, 2017). The lack of consent makes the issue unethical. From the perspective of rights ethics, the principle right of the donor to health and life is being violated as a result of organ trafficking and transplant tourism, thus making the practice unethical.
According to Kantian ethics, patients have a duty not to engage in practices that promote evil, even if it would cost them their lives (Pence, 2017). Based on these concerns, I believe that the C response is the most appropriate one in this situation. Transplant tourism must be shut down, and the organs harvested legally in other countries should be given to the patients in those countries rather than benefit the rich patients of first world countries.
References
Moorlock, G. (2018). A look inside the murky world of the illegal organ trade. The Independent. Web.
Pence, G. E. (2017). Medical ethics: Accounts of ground-breaking cases (8th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education.