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Seems like your classic win-lose situation to me. The rich get their organs faster, the poor die when their one remaining kidney fails because they can't affor

Seems like your classic win-lose situation to me. The rich get their organs faster, the poor die when their one remaining kidney fails because they can't afford market rates.

hugh3 15y ago
the poor die when their one remaining kidney fails because they can't afford market rates. Yeah, but weigh up the chances of that (most people don't get kidney failure in their life) versus the extra opportunities that you get from the money. If you're dirt poor in China, $3400 might be just what you need to get yourself started in life and catapult yourself up into the middle class. Buying an iPad still seems like dubious value, but... hopefully he did something better with the rest of it. And I guess if you don't have any other computer then an iPad just might be worth 20% of one of your kidneys if you can use it to educate yourself or start a business.
- jhamburger 15y ago
  Sure if you have a great business idea that needs bootstrapping, that money is precious...but $3400 for a poor chinese citizen is like giving an american maybe $50k at best...that kind of money is really great for a year or two but probably gone within 5-10 years unless you have some really great ideas for it. And then you still have no kidney.
  - Symmetry 15y ago
    From everything I've read kidney donation isn't that bad. As has been pointed out, most people don't have Kidney problems and having a single kidney doesn't increase your odds of having problems that much. If I could get $50k legally for donating a kidney, and if I could get a kidney for $50k in the unlikely event that something went wrong, I would certainly be willing to go through with it.
    - jhamburger 15y ago
      The cost paid by the buyer would undoubtably be much higher than the compensation you receive as a "donor", think about all the middlemen, doctors, nurses, etc that need to get their share. If the donor is getting $3400 the buyer is probably paying 15K at least.
      - Symmetry 15y ago
        Right, the cost of surgery would probably dominate the cost of receiving a kidney transplant. But that's really what health insurance is for. I guess I should have said "if other people were selling kidney's", the exact price doesn't matter very much.
  - hugh3 15y ago
    Yep, on average I'd say it's a bad deal. But if I were dirt poor in China, and I really did think that $3400 would be enough to give me the kick start to lift myself permanently out of poverty, I'd do it. I suppose the real problem is that there's some minimum rational price for which it's sensible to sell a kidney... and a bunch of irrational people who are willing to sell their kidneys for less than that. So none of the rational people will ever get a look in, and a legalised kidney trade would only lead to misery rather than good deals.
- anigbrowl 15y ago
  Surely in a well-functioning economy/society one should be able to achieve that with enterprise and hard work alone. Why not an eye, hand, or lung? After all, you can probably get by with only one.
extension 15y ago
If people have to pay for their own health care then obviously the rich are going to get better care in general. If you have public health care and kidney selling then presumably the government is buying kidneys for anybody who needs one.
bhickey 15y ago
Kidney failures are highly correlated. The 'backup' really isn't all that useful. This is still a terrible idea.

Seems like your classic win-lose situation to me. The rich get their organs faster, the poor die when their one remaining kidney fails because they can't afford market rates.

hugh3 15y ago

the poor die when their one remaining kidney fails because they can't afford market rates. Yeah, but weigh up the chances of that (most people don't get kidney failure in their life) versus the extra opportunities that you get from the money. If you're dirt poor in China, $3400 might be just what you need to get yourself started in life and catapult yourself up into the middle class. Buying an iPad still seems like dubious value, but... hopefully he did something better with the rest of it. And I guess if you don't have any other computer then an iPad just might be worth 20% of one of your kidneys if you can use it to educate yourself or start a business.

jhamburger 15y ago
Sure if you have a great business idea that needs bootstrapping, that money is precious...but $3400 for a poor chinese citizen is like giving an american maybe $50k at best...that kind of money is really great for a year or two but probably gone within 5-10 years unless you have some really great ideas for it. And then you still have no kidney.
- Symmetry 15y ago
  From everything I've read kidney donation isn't that bad. As has been pointed out, most people don't have Kidney problems and having a single kidney doesn't increase your odds of having problems that much. If I could get $50k legally for donating a kidney, and if I could get a kidney for $50k in the unlikely event that something went wrong, I would certainly be willing to go through with it.
  - jhamburger 15y ago
    The cost paid by the buyer would undoubtably be much higher than the compensation you receive as a "donor", think about all the middlemen, doctors, nurses, etc that need to get their share. If the donor is getting $3400 the buyer is probably paying 15K at least.
    - Symmetry 15y ago
      Right, the cost of surgery would probably dominate the cost of receiving a kidney transplant. But that's really what health insurance is for. I guess I should have said "if other people were selling kidney's", the exact price doesn't matter very much.
- hugh3 15y ago
  Yep, on average I'd say it's a bad deal. But if I were dirt poor in China, and I really did think that $3400 would be enough to give me the kick start to lift myself permanently out of poverty, I'd do it. I suppose the real problem is that there's some minimum rational price for which it's sensible to sell a kidney... and a bunch of irrational people who are willing to sell their kidneys for less than that. So none of the rational people will ever get a look in, and a legalised kidney trade would only lead to misery rather than good deals.
anigbrowl 15y ago
Surely in a well-functioning economy/society one should be able to achieve that with enterprise and hard work alone. Why not an eye, hand, or lung? After all, you can probably get by with only one.

extension 15y ago

If people have to pay for their own health care then obviously the rich are going to get better care in general. If you have public health care and kidney selling then presumably the government is buying kidneys for anybody who needs one.

bhickey 15y ago

Kidney failures are highly correlated. The 'backup' really isn't all that useful. This is still a terrible idea.