An essay circling around the ethical issues of the legalisation of payment for organ transplants. This was done for an assignment under the module "Ethical Dilemmas" in Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

1. Ethical Dilemmas 1
Running head: PAYMENTS FOR ORGAN TRANSPLANTS
An Analysis on Payments for Organ Transplants
And the Ethical Dilemma Faced
Mohamed Syahid Bin Mohamed
S10049714C
T01
Ngee Ann Polytechnic

2. Ethical Dilemmas 2
An Analysis on Payments for Organ Transplants and the Ethical Dilemma Faced
Organ transplant has been defined as the transfer of organs from an individual (donor) to
another (recipient) with the purpose of substituting the latter’s failing or damaged organ with the
donor’s working organ (Wikipedia, 2009). In this context, donors can either be living or
deceased. Some of the more common organs and tissues that needs transplant are the heart,
kidneys, liver, bones, tendons and skin. The recent amendment to the Human Organ Transplant
Act has now allowed payments to be made to donors and the bill is still being debated
nationwide as to whether it should put into place or not. This essay aims to provide a better
insight of organ transplants donations as well as to discuss the pros and cons of allowing
payments for doing so.
With monetary involvement potentially being in place, comes the ethical dilemma.
Donors might exploit it solely for monetary gains and some may even use this as a trade. For
Muslims and Roman Catholics, donating is solely for saving lives and receiving payments for
that would absolutely not be condoned. However, it seems fair to compensate donors for their
gracious acts and also helping them financial wise. Furthermore, the compensation is not
compulsory and is up to the recipient’s discretion. On top of this, this would also encourage more
people to step forward to help the many patients who require these organs immediately. The only
issue now is whether to advocate or not this practice. This is an ethical dilemma that I am
currently facing. Opting out from donating would mean depriving many others of a chance to
live. On top of that, being a Muslim, receiving a payment for the use of my organs would be
considered disrespecting my religion.
From my point of view, I would not advocate payments to be conducted. On a whole, we
should be focusing more on the primary function of saving lives voluntarily rather than caring

3. Ethical Dilemmas 3
about monetary gains from doing so. Therefore, money should not be an issue in this because at
the end of the day; it depends on the individual itself and the reasons as to why payment still
remains a dilemma. Perhaps we should first look at the benefits of advocating this movement.
The waiting time for kidney patients to receive kidneys is around five to six years. However,
patients have to abide by a “first come, first serve” rule and by the time they are in line for the
transplant, the said patient would have died. Another reason as to the lack of donors is the fact
that many individuals are choosing to opt-out from donating their organs upon their death thus
decreasing the number of organs available to recipients.
Thus, the amendment will certainly encourage more people to step forward and deter opt-
outs. With a bigger pool of donors; patients do not have to wait much longer anymore. There is a
concern that payments would only encourage individuals to donate for the wrong reasons though
the purpose of these donors do not matter because the benefits of life would certainly outweigh
the benefits of monetary gains itself. Some of these donors are not well off and receiving
reimbursements for the operation would certainly help to tide over their finances. Furthermore,
for living donors, the money received would help in aiding in their future medical checkups to
ensure that their body system is still functioning well without the donated organs. This is fair in
the context that living donor is putting his or her life on the line without a fully organ equipped
body. Payments will also deter poor foreign workers from getting involved in illegal organ trades
and ending up being exploited by these syndicates.
On the other hand, there are reasons as to why we should not agree with this system. It
might increase the chances that this will end up becoming a lucrative trade business instead. In
Manila, kidneys are available for purchase at prices ranging from $1000 to $2000 while those in
Latin America and South Africa has them priced at $10,000 and as high as $20,000 respectively

4. Ethical Dilemmas 4
(Wikipedia, 2009). A recent case happened in Singapore itself involved two Indonesian men who
sold off their kidneys for S$29,000 and S$23,700 (Channel News Asia website, 2008). Thus,
such illegal trades do happen in Singapore. Also, the nature of a patient’s needs for the transplant
also comes into question. Kidneys which had failed due to negative reasons like alcoholism or
smoking will only encourage more alcoholics and smokers to continue on with their lifestyles
because they can always get a change of their damaged parts with money.
The supply of organs should be allocated to the forever increasing demand by priority in
the waiting list. We have discussed the key parties in the organ transplant transaction – the donor
and the beneficiary. However, from the social point of view, allowing payments would only give
rise to inequality. These payments would only accelerate the discrimination to the poor because
now, the donor has the right to choose whichever recipient which pays more for their organs.
Donors will comprise of poor people who sell organs for financial support and in contrast,
beneficiaries will now be rich people who are able to afford these payments. As such, the whole
“waiting list” will be in jeopardy as the rich would have the financial advantage and thus be
automatically allowed to jump the queue.
In conclusion, instead of allowing payments, parties to the donation could just adopt the
pair-matched approach. This approach involves a pair of kidney donors and recipients whose
have incompatible blood types. Thus, the act of interchanging donors will allow the respective
recipients to obtain the kidney of the compatible donor. Once everything is settled, both
transplants will be conducted at the same time. By doing so, we can control the market for organ
transplants without the need to induce monetary gains. Thus, I conclude this essay with the
notion that I do not advocate the payment of organ transplants as I feel that this will give rise to
many ethical reasons as stated earlier on in my essay.

5. Ethical Dilemmas 5
References
Khaw, B. W. (2009, March 24). The Human Organ Transplant (Amendment) Bill-Closing
Speech. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/speeches.aspx?
id=21294
People’s Action Party (2008). To trade or not to trade in organs. Retrieved May 25, 2009,
from http://www.pap.org.sg/articleview.php?id=3548&cid=29
Wayne, S & John, B. (2001). The ethics of organ transplantation. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=BofhlFkSyEoC
Wikipedia (2009). Organ Donation. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_donation
Wikipedia (2009). Organ Transplant. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_transplant
Wong, M. & Tan, V. (2008, July 03). Two Indonesian men in illegal organ trading case jailed
and fined. Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/358062/1/.html

6. Ethical Dilemmas 5
References
Khaw, B. W. (2009, March 24). The Human Organ Transplant (Amendment) Bill-Closing
Speech. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/speeches.aspx?
id=21294
People’s Action Party (2008). To trade or not to trade in organs. Retrieved May 25, 2009,
from http://www.pap.org.sg/articleview.php?id=3548&cid=29
Wayne, S & John, B. (2001). The ethics of organ transplantation. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=BofhlFkSyEoC
Wikipedia (2009). Organ Donation. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_donation
Wikipedia (2009). Organ Transplant. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_transplant
Wong, M. & Tan, V. (2008, July 03). Two Indonesian men in illegal organ trading case jailed
and fined. Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved May 25, 2009, from
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/358062/1/.html