Prostitutes, workers and kidneys: Brecher on the kidney trade

J Med Ethics. 1991 Jun;17(2):97-8. doi: 10.1136/jme.17.2.97.

Abstract

Brecher argues that the practices of selling blood and kidneys are akin to the practices of prostitution and wage-labour since they all involve commodification and, by implication, should be subject to legal prohibition. I suggest that these practices need not involve commodification and that they should only be condemned if people are forced into them because of their lack of power. Rather than these practices being prohibited, I suggest that it would be preferable if they were subject to state regulation in order to protect the weak from exploitation.

Publication types

  • Comment

MeSH terms

  • Commerce
  • Dehumanization
  • Employment* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • England
  • Freedom
  • Government Regulation
  • Human Rights
  • Humans
  • Kidney
  • Personal Autonomy
  • Power, Psychological*
  • Sex Work* / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Tissue and Organ Procurement* / legislation & jurisprudence