Reddit mentions of The Ethics of Transplants: Why Careless Thought Costs Lives

Thank you for promoting BLH, the quality of discussion there deserves more recognition. It's absolutely refreshing compared to the absolutist politicized bickering that tends to dominate Libertarian discussions in US pop culture.

As someone currently doing graduate work in Medical Ethics, I'd like to soapbox for a minute and say that the moral case against kidney sales is wildly overblown and deserves more public scrutiny.

I highly recommend this paper by feminist author Janet Radcliffe Richards which systematically dismantles every pro-ban justification in the literature, and is frankly one of the best bioethics pieces I've read full stop. She's expanded the piece into a book as well, but I haven't had the time to read it yet.

Likewise, look here for an economic analysis of how a government mediated single-buyer Kidney compensation system could work, and how absurdly beneficial it would be. Summary: a $45,000 live / $10,000 deceased payment would save the US $46 billion per year, funnel thousands of dollars to the poor even when compensating for care costs, end the 100,000+ person wait list, and save thousands of lives.

Here's an analysis of the outcomes of Iran's government compensation system (the closest thing to a test case we have), showing that even in cases where compensation is pithy ($1,200 usd in Iran's case) the exploitative fears most people hold about the subject are unfounded thanks in large part to the support of 3rd party charity systems.