The Ethics of Offering Money for Organ Transplants

Blogger Seth Godin  wanted to help  his friend and colleague Amit Gupta, who has leukemia, so he offered up a challenge to his readers: the first bone marrow donor match to Gupta who would donate stem cells would receive $10,000. But under the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, better known as NOTA, it’s a federal crime to give or receive “valuable consideration” for any transplantable organ or tissue, specifically including bone marrow. And beyond the legal aspects, some people may find Godin’s  gesture  ethically questionable. Dr. Art Caplan is the Sydney D. Caplan professor of bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.