Critics argue commodifying the human body undermines the principle of altruism in organ donation and may exploit vulnerable individuals who may feel compelled to sell their organs for financial gain.

Written By Elaine Perlman

Strict eligibility criteria

  • Age requirements: Establish minimum age requirements for individuals who wish to donate. This could help to ensure that only mature individuals who can make informed decisions are eligible to donate their kidneys for compensation. Setting a minimum age, such as 18 or 21, would ensure that potential donors have reached an age where they are legally capable of consenting to such a decision.

  • Medical disqualifiers: Establish medical disqualifiers to prevent individuals who are not medically suitable for kidney donation from selling their kidneys. This could include disqualifiers based on factors such as the donor's overall health, medical history, and current medications. Medical evaluations would be conducted to determine if a potential donor is physically fit to undergo the donation procedure and does not have any conditions that would put their health at risk.

  • Informed consent: Require that all potential kidney donors demonstrate that they fully understand the risks and potential complications associated with kidney donation and are able to make an informed decision about whether to donate their kidneys for compensation. This would involve providing comprehensive information about the donation process, including the surgical procedure, post-operative care, potential risks, and long-term effects.

  • Safeguards Against Coercion: Establish strict safeguards to prevent coercion of potential kidney donors, including requiring that all potential donors undergo an independent evaluation by a neutral third party. This would help ensure that the decision to donate is voluntary and not influenced by external pressures or financial incentives.

  • Financial disqualifiers: Establish financial disqualifiers to prevent individuals who are in dire financial need from selling their kidneys. For example, the United States could disqualify individuals who are receiving public assistance or who have a history of financial hardship. This would help prevent vulnerable individuals from being coerced into donating their kidneys solely for financial gain.

Elaine Perlman

Elaine is aiming to pass two federal laws in the United States, the End Kidney Deaths Act and the Honor Our Living Donors Act. Elaine is the Executive Director of Waitlist Zero, an advocacy group that seeks to end the kidney shortage and provide kidneys to the 90,000 people who are waiting for their lives to be saved in the United States. Both Elaine and her son Abie gave their kidneys to strangers. Elaine founded the groups NYC One Kidney Club, Kidneys 4 Strangers, and Vegan Kidney Donors. She leads the Global One Kidney Club meetings and the Ask Me Anything meetings for the National Kidney Donation Organization. She is also on their Mentoring Team. Elaine cohosted an National Kidney Foundation workshop about the benefits of plant based eating to promote kidney health in addition to a cooking demonstration. Elaine has been a mentor for Plant Powered Metro New York during nine Jumpstarts that help people make the transition to plant based eating.

From 2016-2022, Elaine was a Professor and Program Director for the Peace Corps Fellows Program at Teachers College, Columbia University. For 30 years, she has been a teacher of nearly every subject for all grades from 2-11, in addition to 7 years of teaching children under the age of five. Elaine was a public school specialist teaching children in grades 2-5 about eating healthy foods in the South Bronx, Crown Heights, and Harlem through the Coalition for Healthy School Food. Elaine has painted eleven school murals. She completed the Columbia University course "Food and Nutrition For All," the Plant-Based Nutrition Certificate course from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies and eCornell and the Main Street Vegan Coaching Certificate course.

http://elaineperlman.com/
Next

Blog Post Title Two