Singapore to Legalize Financial Compensation for Organ Donors

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: organ donors, health news, Natural News

(NaturalNews) The legislature of Singapore has passed a law to allow, for the first time, payments to organ donors. The measure has drawn harsh criticism from many legislators, who fear it will lead to an organ trading market that exploits the poor.

"To a desperate foreign worker, even a reimbursement of 10,000 [Singapore] dollars (6,600 US) would be attractive compared to going home empty-handed with a huge debt waiting for him," said lawmaker Halimah Yacob, who fears that foreign laborers might " become a ready, vulnerable pool of organ donors to be exploited and abused."

Singapore's legislature first proposed legalizing payments to organ donors after an elderly retail magnate, Tang Wee Sun, was arrested in June 2008 for attempting to purchase a kidney from an Indonesian donor. Tang served a day in prison and was fined 17,000 Singapore dollars. He eventually received a kidney from the body of an organized crime boss who had been executed for murder.

Under Singapore's "opt-out" organ donation system, everyone who does not explicitly opt out is assumed to be an organ donor upon their death. Compulsory organ donation is enforced even when survivors of the deceased object.

The new law legalizes the reimbursement of costs incurred by organ donors related to the donation. Costs that can be reimbursed include short- and long-term medical care, loss of income, travel, accommodation and child care. Any payment that constitutes "an undue inducement [or] organ trading" is still prohibited, but the terms of this prohibition are not defined in detail.

Legislator Christopher de Souza was among those opposing the law, warning that it could turn Singapore into a center for "transplant tourism."

"The framework in the bill could be the subject of abuse," he said.

Legislator Lam Pin Min said that people from India, Pakistan and other countries have already begun asking how they can sell their organs in Singapore.

Sources for this story include: www.breitbart.com; www.thesundaily.com; www.bioedge.org; marketdesigner.blogspot.com.