How much is that kidney in the window?

The Human Organ Transplant Act Amendment (HOTA) Bill passed by Parliament in 2004 allows for the organs (including kidney, liver, heart and cornea) of Singapore citizens and permanent residents to be removed in the event of death for the purpose of transplantation. It is applicable to non-Muslims between the ages of 21 and 60 years.

With people on waiting lists for organ donations dying everyday due to the shortage of organ donations, society is often tempted to suggest the sale of organs as a quick fix solution.

It has been argued that healthy people can live with one kidney or part of a liver. Some see nothing wrong for a potential living donor to save another person’s life given the right monetary incentive. They argue that as long as safeguards are put in place to protect the donor’s health, selling an organ is no different from selling an orange.

Others have argued that basic human necessities like food, shelter and medicine are already subject to market forces and so should the sale of organs, for without these organs life will be lost.

But is buying a heart the same as buying a house?

Using money to buy a house or other basic necessity that keeps us alive is different from using money to buy organs that come from other human beings. The sale of organs makes the seller less intact. Perhaps the loss of one kidney is less clear then the loss of a cornea. Nobody can accept a cornea peacefully knowing that he has made another human being half blind in the process. Moreover, the seller might now be more susceptible to disease or injury and sometimes even closer to death.

Some may counter argue that the above objections can be removed if we sell our organs after we died and pass on the money obtained from the sales to our love ones or even bequeath it to a charity. This is a naive argument as now the seller is at risk of being killed by individuals who stand to benefit due to the death of the seller.

We must extend our empathy to those who are in need of an organ to live a better life. It must be tough living between hope and despair waiting for the day when an organ can be found to be transplanted. However, in our eagerness to save the lives of those who have organ failures, have we forgotten that we need to treat other human beings with equal dignity and respect?

Just as Jonathan Swift’s satirical essay entitled A Modest Proposal suggests that the Irish eat their own children so that children of poor people in Ireland will be beneficial to the public, the argument for the sale of human organs will value a human life like that of a chicken. In future, we will be tempted to have children so that we can harvest their organs, just as we rear chickens so that they will become food for our bodies.

We must hold each and every individual as equally valuable in the eyes of society. We should not allow our emotions be swayed by the suffering of those who need an organ to the point of treating those who are healthy as less valuable.

Finally, we should not attempt to save the lives of those in need of an organ at all costs. There is a need to educate them to see the alternative of welcoming death with dignity.

Life never blessed us all equally with healthy organs. Some of us are allowed to live to a ripe old age while others are asked to leave the stage early. Faced with the possibility of death, we should not extend our lives at the expense of others.



This article was rejected by both TODAY and the Starits Time.