Monday, March 15, 2010
Bone marrow harvesting (photo: Chad McNeeley, Navy News Service)
It is for good reason that there are laws on the books preventing people from buying and selling organs in the United States, writes Steve Chapman of the Chicago Tribune. But concerns about ghoulish markets developing around dying patients should not apply to those in need of bone marrow transplants to combat cancer.
Unlike livers or kidneys, which can’t be replaced by a donor, bone marrow is naturally restored in the body after it is extracted. Chapman argues that bone marrow should be treated similarly to blood and sperm donations, for which people are compensated. Allowing donors to be paid for giving marrow would encourage more Americans to step up and give, providing more patients with a fighting chance for survival.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Dying People Shouldn't Have to be Beggars (by Steve Chapman, Creators.com)
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