Family-donated kidneys and livers should be illegal

Family and close friends should not be allowed to donate kidneys or livers toFamily and close friends should not be allowed to donate kidneys or livers to loved ones. The sole suppliers of these organs should be cadaver donors.<br><br>Donating a kidney or a liver is a very serious procedure that often has lifelong consequences. The rich should not be able to pay their cousins $100,000 to donate an organ. There should also be no “gift” donation from one spouse to the other. Donors can and do die during the procedure. This is somebody that is 100% healthy and could otherwise live for another 40 years. They literally die so that their loved one can live. I cannot stand the thought of this so a loved one can skip their way up the list.<br><br>It is completely unfair that somebody has to wait on the transplant list, sometimes for 10 years, while another person can skip the line because they are wealthy and have a relative that is willing to donate to them. That is 10 years worth of organs from cadavers that that person on the list could have had.<br><br>Also, I see a social and class component to this. It is my assumption that these independent donations do not happen nearly as often between strangers as they do between loved ones.Family and close friends should not be allowed to donate kidneys or livers toFamily and close friends should not be allowed to donate kidneys or livers to loved ones. The sole suppliers of these organs should be cadaver donors.<br><br>Donating a kidney or a liver is a very serious procedure that often has lifelong consequences. The rich should not be able to pay their cousins $100,000 to donate an organ. There should also be no “gift” donation from one spouse to the other. Donors can and do die during the procedure. This is somebody that is 100% healthy and could otherwise live for another 40 years. They literally die so that their loved one can live. I cannot stand the thought of this so a loved one can skip their way up the list.<br><br>It is completely unfair that somebody has to wait on the transplant list, sometimes for 10 years, while another person can skip the line because they are wealthy and have a relative that is willing to donate to them. That is 10 years worth of organs from cadavers that that person on the list could have had.<br><br>Also, I see a social and class component to this. It is my assumption that these independent donations do not happen nearly as often between strangers as they do between loved ones.<br><br> Edit: I have a lot of sympathy for people who want to donate an organ to their loved ones. I understand that - and I do not think that people who would be donors would want anything in exchange for that.<br><br>The point of this post is to stop a relative from being able to “skip the line” by having a loved one donate to them. This is unfair to people who do not have a loved one who is to donate to them, and it is an inherent benefit to people who have more money. People who have more money, and/or people who are more socially well-connected, have a greater ability to persuade loved ones to to donate to them. Furthermore, somebody with more money has a greater ability to reimburse a loved one for their donation (e.g. paying for lost wages - although this is technically illegal, it undoubtedly happens). I am sure somebody is going to leave a comment saying that they would happily donate their kidney to a relative and I respect that decision. What I want is for that relative to be placed back at the beginning of the list and not their current position 3 months away from receiving a cadaver donation.