Oct 14
Human organs should be bought & sold
For a classic illustration of the Law of Unintended Consequences, consider the National Organ Transplant Act. Passed by Congress in 1984, the statute makes it illegal to pay any compensation to organ donors or their families. The lawmakers’ intentions were good: They were loath to allow the spectacle of human organs being bought and sold like mere commodities. And they wanted to prevent any chance that the poor would be exploited to supply body parts for the rich. Those things have indeed been prevented. But by making it a crime to offer donors any ‘valuable consideration’ for organs, Congress achieved something else, too: the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of Americans who could have been saved if only the organs they needed had been available.” (10/12/03)
Via: Rational Review
