Philippine E-Journals

The Case against a Free Market for Human Organs in the Philippines

John Ian K. Boongaling

Discipline: Philosophy, Law

 

Abstract:

The paper looks into the proposal of creating a public policy or enacting a law which allows for a free market for human organs, specifically kidneys, in the Philippine context. The paper identifies two of the most important arguments that are used by defenders of the free market proposal for human organs: the argument from personal autonomy and the argument from economic efficiency. Using the most recent data on the Philippine kidney selling experience, social justice, and Diokno’s Filipino concept of justice, the paper shows that these arguments are defective and thus cannot ground the free market proposal for human organs in the Philippines.