Last year, Sally Satel received a kidney from Virginia Postrel. She writes in the Washington Post:
It is a sad time for the 96,000 patients waiting for kidneys,
livers, hearts and lungs: The chasm between supply and demand grows
wider each year. By this time tomorrow, 18 people in need of an organ
will be dead because they did not get one soon enough.Kidneys
are in highest demand; currently, 71,000 people need a renal
transplant. They will spend, on average, five years on dialysis while
waiting for an organ from a deceased donor. At least half will die or
become too sick to undergo a transplant before their name is called.
She argues for allowing people to receive compensation for donating their kidneys. Here is the podcast with Richard Epstein on this issue. Here is the podcast with Virginia Postrel, the donor of the kidney. The discussion of her decision to donate a kidney to Sally Satel begins around 35 minutes into the podcast.
