Alasdair Palmer

Alasdair Palmer is a columnist for the weekly British magazine the Spectator. In the following viewpoint, Palmer argues that legalizing the buying and selling of human organs for transplantation raises serious ethical questions. Buying organs exploits the desperately poor and would encourage criminals to kidnap victims to sell their organs, he maintains.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Palmer, what precipitated the Human Tissue Act of 1990 which outlawed the purchasing of human organs?
2. What are some of the risks associated with purchasing a kidney in India, according to Jonathan Odum, as cited by the author?
3. What policy has contributed to the shortage of organs, in Palmer’s opinion"

In June 1994, Mr Stephen Hyett left hospital in Cambridge with a new kidney, liver, stomach, pancreas, duodenum and small bowel. He was lucky...