Subj : Selling Body Parts To : LEE LOFASO From : BOB KLAHN Date : Wed Nov 12 2014 08:06 pm LL> What is immoral about saving lives? LL> Pro-life Republicans claim to be pro-life. LL> Pro-life Democrats also claim to be pro-life. LL> Pro-life Independents even claim to be pro-life. LL> But everybody, regardless of party affiliation LL> or political ideology, says that selling body parts LL> is immoral, and that doing so should be illegal. Yep. I am both pro-life and opposed to selling body parts. ... LL> But nobody seems to be able to figure out why. Wrong, I figured it out long ago. ... LL> Now back to reality - Ok, who wrote this and signed Lee's name to it? LL> I read a classified ad in the newspaper LL> the other day that literally blew my mind - LL> "Kidney, runs good, $30,000 or best offer." LL> This was a woman from St. Petersburg, Florida. LL> Said her name was Ruth. Apparently, all she LL> wanted was some money, and selling a kidney LL> seemed to her an easy way to make some quick LL> cash. Ok, one reason that one should be illegal is she is too dumb to give informed consent. She should have said, bidding starts at $30,000. Oh, and that was in 1997. LL> Not having anything else to do, and with no LSU LL> or Saints football game being played this weekend, LL> I decided to give her a call. It was a short LL> conversation. She told me she got a few serious LL> calls, but then the newspaper refused to run her LL> ad again, warning her that she might be arrested. You called her in 1997? LL> What gets me is why anybody would be willing to LL> sell a perfectly good kidney for a mere $30,000? LL> But then I remembered that people in Pakistan LL> and other parts of the world do this all the time, LL> selling a kidney for much less. ... LL> good working condition? People are allowed to LL> donate body parts if they are dead. Notice I LL> said donate, not sell. As it is, people have LL> to wait until they are dead before they can LL> donate their own body parts. Can't sell body You can donate a kidney if you are alive, and have two good ones. LL> Why not sell body parts while still alive? Why not sell body parts while still alive, for delivery after death? ... LL> those who are homeless. Rich and poor alike LL> receive body parts, and millions have agreed to LL> become donors themselves. Not quite true. Rich and poor receive body parts, but not alike. All too often the rich get what the poor need. ... LL> body parts for free? And what about waiting lists? LL> Why should there be waiting lists? If somebody LL> has the money, and is willing to pay the price ... If somebody has the money and is willing to pay the price, the poor will never get a transplant again. And that is the basis for not allowing the sale of body parts. Walmart is trying to get into providing health care. The Walmart business modely requires cheap suppliers to provide cheap prices. That model is why this country has unemployment about 15% in real numbers. Apply that to body parts. To sell in quantity you have to have a supply of cheap parts. That means a lot of donors/sellers. With enough sellers you will be able to buy a kidney for $1000. To maintain that we have to maintain a large number of people in poverty in this country. It's hard enough to get a congress owned by the rich to do anything to help lift people from poverty, with a need for cheap body parts there will be that much more incentive to keep a large portion of the population poor. BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn .... To beer or not to beer? (C) Shakesbeer ) * Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg] --- Platinum Xpress/Win/WINServer v3.0pr5 * Origin: Check Out Doc's QWK Mail Via Web BBS > DocsPlace.org (1:123/140) .