Allowing the market to dictate organ transplantation increases inequity, Elizabeth Tracey reports
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Does the organ transplantation system in the US need reform? That’s the agenda of a disgruntled family member whose relative waited years for a transplant, in testimony before Congress, but Adam Schiavi, a neuro critical care expert at Johns Hopkins, says it appears reform may transition our current not for profit system to one where profit is introduced, and that’s very concerning.
Schiavi: It's going to end up being corporations doing matching people presumably with the most money. They're going to pay the most for the organs and it's going to become an open market like a capitalism market, where supply and demand comes into play, an organ that comes up that meets the requirements of a person who is on the list, the person with the most money can pay the most for that organ. If it's scarce it's gonna go up in price. That leads to unbelievable disparities of income and any number of things. :27
Schiavi urges everyone who finds this idea unacceptable to pay attention to this issue and voice their opposition to lawmakers. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.
