4 ms·
> Imagine if solid organ transplants were handled in the same way: "Young man, as a new intern, I'll give you a percentage of my Facebook stock in exchange for
by JamesBarney 8y ago
> Imagine if solid organ transplants were handled in the same way: "Young man, as a new intern, I'll give you a percentage of my Facebook stock in exchange for a kidney..."
This is already true in Iran. Here's the first paragraph of the Wikipedia entry.
The practice of selling one's kidney for profit in Iran is legal and regulated by the government. In any given year, it is estimated that 1400 Iranians sell one of their kidneys to a recipient who was previously unknown to them.[1] Iran currently is the only country in the world that allows the sale of one's kidney for compensation (typically a payment); consequently, the country does not have either a waiting list or a shortage of available organs
- d3ad1ysp0rk 8y agoYour success criteria both reference the recipient. Often things can work out well for the wealthy and poorly for even those who "voluntarily" opt in.
- killjoywashere 8y agoOh, yeah, donating a kidney halves the donor's long-term glomerular filtration capacity. They're sacrificing years of life for that decision.
- JamesBarney 8y agoIs it really this much? Anything you can point to? I had a friend who worked for. A non profit related to kidneys and she said the risks were minimal besides the surgery, and I always found that hard to believe.
- killjoywashere 8y agoYou have two sieves and can sift 10 pounds of sand a minute. I take away one of your sieves. How long will it take you to sift those 10 pounds of sand?
- JamesBarney 8y agoThis analogy doesn't really explain how much having only one kidney effects life expectancy.
- rhcom2 8y agoWeird though because that's only one organ and most of the others don't compare with spares.
- JamesBarney 8y agoBut if there's a scale about how replaceable an organ is then kidneys are far closer to blood or plasma than other organs.