Why Can’t I Buy a Kidney?

It can take years to get to the top of the waiting list for a donated kidney in the U.S. So when Sally Satel found out she’d need a kidney transplant, she wondered why she couldn’t just buy one. We’ll hear from a behavioral economist and a bioethicist who shed light on the ban on organ sales and whether it’s possible to create an ethical compensation program for organs.Show notes:In addition to Sally Satel, this episode features interviews with: Jeffrey Kahn, Andreas C. Dracopolous Director of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of BioethicsMario Macis, Professor of Economic, Johns Hopkins Carey Business SchoolThis episode references the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA), passed in 1984. This act established the national Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN), which is operated by an outside contractor, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).The OPTN has its own ethics committee that has written guiding principles that influence how organs are allocated in the US. You can read this guidance here. To learn more about the ethics issues raised in this episode, visit the Berman Institute’s episode guide. The Greenwall Foundation seeks to make bioethics integral to decisions in health care, policy, and research. Learn more at greenwall.org.

Om Podcasten

Life-and-death dilemmas. New medical technologies. Controversial treatments. In playing god? we hear from the patients whose lives were transformed—and sometimes saved—by medical innovations and the bioethicists who help guide complex decisions. Ventilators can keep critically ill people alive, but when is it acceptable to turn the machines off? Organ transplants save lives, but when demand outpaces supply, how do we decide who gets them? Novel reproductive technologies can help people have babies in ways that are far beyond what nature allows. So, when should these “Brave New World” technologies be introduced, and who should control them?  playing god? is a production of the Berman Institute of Bioethics at Johns Hopkins University, with generous support from The Greenwall Foundation. New episodes drop every Tuesday. The Berman Institute has created a guide for each episode where you can learn more about the guests, the history, and the ethics issues at: bioethics.jhu.edu/playing-god