|
|
List Price: $29.95 Amazon.com's Price: $25.81 You Save: $4.14 (14%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: HardcoverDewey Decimal Number: 617.954 EAN: 9781589010406 Edition: 1 ISBN: 158901040X Label: Georgetown University Press Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 276 Publication Date: March 19, 2005 Publisher: Georgetown University Press Studio: Georgetown University Press Editorial Review: Product Description: Over the past decade in the United States, nearly 6,000 people a year have died waiting for organ transplants. In 2003 alone, only 20,000 out of the 83,000 waiting for transplants received them - in anyone's eyes, a tragedy. Many of these deaths could have been prevented, and many more lives saved, were it not for the almost universal moral hand wringing over the concept of selling human organs. Bioethicist Mark Cherry explores the why of these well-intentioned misperceptions and legislation and boldly deconstructs the roadblocks that are standing in the way of restoring health to thousands of people. If most Americans accept the notion that the market is the most efficient means to distribute resources, why should body parts be excluded? Kidney for Sale by Owner contends that the market is indeed a legitimate - and humane - way to procure and distribute human organs. Cherry stakes the claim that it may be even more just, and more compatible with many Western religious and philosophical traditions, than the current charity-based system now in place. He carefully examines arguments against a market for body parts, including assertions based on the moral views of John Locke, Immanuel Kant, and Thomas Aquinas, and shows these claims to be steeped in myth, oversimplification, and contorted logic. Rather than focusing on purported human exploitation and the irrational "moral repugnance" of selling organs, Cherry argues that we should focus on saving lives. Following on the thinking of the philosopher Robert Nozick, he demonstrates that, with regard to body parts, the important core humanitarian values of equality, liberty, altruism, social solidarity, human dignity, and, ultimately, improved health care are more successfully supported by a regulated market rather than by well meant but misguided, prohibitions. Average Rating:
 Rating: - very well doneIf one asked me how I felt about selling ones organ's for profit a few months ago I would have surely said that it would be an immoral act indeed. However, after reading cherry's book I cannot, on a philosophical basis, find any flaws in his logic. A fun and interesting read. |
