The Gift of Life, or Organised Trade?
My friend was a 19 year old medical student when she diagnosed her own kidney problems. Disease lurked and death loomed. Finally her mother donated one of her kidneys and a successful transplant gave two decades of extra life.
This is a touching story of filial love. It has rich echoes of the news that Jesus donated his life in love for his estranged spiritual family (Jn 10:15-18; Rom 5:8). That goes way beyond organ donation and is filial love to the max!
Organ ‘donation’ is back in the news. The media reports proposals to allow ‘compensation’ for kidneys supplied by strangers and for human eggs supplied for research. Some reports suggest that the compensation for a kidney could be five or six figures.
How do Christians respond? There seems to be no Christian problem with organ donation, so long as there is no undue pressure or harm to the donor, and so long as the donated purpose involves no ethical dilemmas. (The later may be an issue with egg donations.) In these cases it may be a noble act of love to give an organ (or other body tissue) to benefit another. This is the gift of life.
‘Donation’ and ‘gift’ are key words in this discussion.
Few will object if donors are compensated for their time and expense and are given coverage for any medical expenses arising from the donation. However, it’s a worrying sign as enlarged compensation threatens to turn the gift into a trade. How many figures does it take for ‘compensation’ to become an ‘inducement’? Consider a poor person in a debt trap who faces a choice between giving a six figure kidney or facing debtor’s prison.
Our sense of human depravity cautions here, for the Bible urges God’s people to care for the vulnerable and not exploit them (eg, Lev 25:17, James 1:27). Organ donation is an act of grace. Organ trade easily becomes a means by which the sick rich and greedy middlemen find a new way to exploit the poor.
Let’s not turn the gift of life into organised trade.
1 comment:
Hi David,
Yesterday during the GCF's forum on this topic, Roland Chia gave a theological response to this.
Then Lee Hin Peng, from Singapore Bioethic Committee, suggested a few ways (eg.life-long health care service) to 'compensate' the donors.
Then we have Jason Yap who's involved with the policy-making with Singapore government gave us some perspective on 'policy' (not necessarily dealing with Organ Sales) and asked us to look at it critically not only through an ethical point of view, but also on the 'common good' of the community in Singapore.
It's a wonderful session. I'm thinking of doing something that follows from this event. Heard that NCCS is producing a publication in respond to this. Perhaps, I can try to organize another forum not only to talk about this further but also for the book-launch.
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