Organ for a Livin’

I read this article about the evils of human organ sales in yesterday’s L. A. Times. I would refute the arguments – if I could find any. Unfortunately, the author just plays on morbid fears and hyperbole, with nary a trace of analysis. Ironically, the most persuasive part of the piece is a quotation that the author presents as self-evidently wrong:

Avraham, a retired lawyer in Jerusalem, explained why he went through considerable expense and danger to travel to Eastern Europe to purchase a kidney from a rural worker rather than wait in line for a cadaver organ in Israel: "Why should I have to wait years for a kidney from someone who was in a car accident, pinned under the car for many hours, then in miserable condition in the intensive care unit for days and only then, after all that trauma, have that same organ put inside me? That organ is not going to be any good! Or, even worse, I could get the organ of an elderly person, or an alcoholic, or a person who died of a stroke. It's far better to get a kidney from a healthy person who can also benefit from the money I can afford to pay."

And that’s bad because…?