Organ Buying: Survival of the Richest

Organ purchasing is on the rise around the world, either from the destitute who sell their kidneys to, say, pay for a child’s surgery, or from China, which reportedly executes prisoners and sells their organs to the highest bidders. Organ buying is an odious practice that continues the ongoing international increase in the commoditization of some human lives.

My wife, Debra J. Saunders, who writes a syndicated political column for the San Francisco Chronicle, firmly rejects the idea so prevalent when this issue is raised: “Who are we to judge?” Her column “American Vampire,” criticizes the terminal nonjudgmentalism (my term) that allows people and many in society to excuse, justify, and even preen about using others as so many organ farms. And she makes a key point about using people as a means to an end, to wit: “When utilitarianism becomes a substitute for right and wrong, the end result is a lot more wrong.”