By Peter Laird, MD
In the recent article by Satel and Hakim 'What's wrong with selling kidneys?' they argue for a legalized market of kidney procurement on the premise that a legalized market would not replicate the sins of the black markets in such countries as China, Pakistan, Egypt, Colombia and the Philippines. My very simple question is why would they expect the governments of these countries which are known for widespread corruption to be any less corrupt than the black market brokers operating in these nations now?
Having been to the Philippines twice to date, I was warned to be most aware of the actions of the police as they notoriously commit kidnappings, home invasion robberies and killings in an organized mafia style criminal gang activity. In fact, the NPA which is in alleged revolution against the Filipino government operates in a similar fashion as a competing criminal gang against those in the government rather than as a true communist political body. The general poverty of these nations leads to great corruption of political institutions which has been well documented in many prior reports for many years. In fact, the government of China has transcended all prior moral outrages by selling organs from condemned prisoners to transplant tourists.
Thus, why is the corrupt government of the Philippines and these other nations somehow going to overcome the sins of the black market when in fact it is likely that the black market in the Philippines is already part of the government of the Philippines today with travel visa’s and hospital access under the control of their government agencies already.
Therefore, will we really have the farmer guarding the hen house as Satel and Hakim contend, or will we simply be legalizing the fox in the hen house? Yes, replicating the sins of the black market is only a small part of what could happen in a nation that has corrupt government officials in a legal kidney procurement enterprise.
Il me semble enfin souhaitable que nos élus aillent se...
Posted by: | June 25, 2009 at 01:05 PM
"It seems finally desirable to me that our elected officials go."
Translated from comment above. I would conclude that the government of the Philippines deserted the people a long time ago. Unfortunately, getting rid of them entirely leads to anarchy. Even a corrupt government is usually better than anarchy, but it is still not desired.
Posted by: Peter Laird, MD | June 25, 2009 at 05:46 PM