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Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Incentivizing Organ Donations
All the rule changes I or we propose regarding baseball or hockey or sports is all part of the same incentive or disincentive system, of creating the pattern of behaviour we would like, to see the results we want to see, but without the heavy cost. And it’s also based on the idea that we can’t possibly already be at the utopian point, that anything left to do requires punishment.
So, this part floored me:
The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) has been problematic for some years. Under the Justice Department’s enforcement of NOTA, there was the prohibition of organ swaps, meaning a husband and wife who didn’t match couldn’t swap with neighbors who did match.
Violation of NOTA can result in a felony conviction, with a five-year prison term and $50,000 fine.
I understand why you need a deterrant (so that criminals won’t abscond with someone else’s organs against their will. Heck, Nip/Tuck was based on this idea.) But this kind of zero-tolerance policy may instead harm more than it helps, much like other zero-tolerance policies we see in sports. Marijuana prosecution, etc.
Organ donation is really tough, especially when you read about the kid who sells his organ for money… to buy a computer.
Anyway, I don’t really have anything to say, because I haven’t given it much thought. It just sounds like there should be room to create an incentive system we’d want, rather than try to politicize and scare people into making things crimes.
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