A newly proposed legislation by two Democrat lawmakers in Massachusetts would allow inmates to donate their organs or bone marrow to reduce their jail terms.
However, it was met with a mixed reaction from the public. The BBC reports that legal advocates described it as an ethically questionable notion and pointed out that it would abuse the already disadvantaged people for the medical benefit of others.
Proposed Bill in Massachusetts Allows Inmates to Donate Organs to Reduce Prison Sentence: Is This Ethical?
Incentivizing Organ Donation by Inmates
In exchange for bone marrow and organ donations, jailed persons might have their sentences reduced by two months to one year under HD.3822, a law introduced in the State House last month, and will not be compensated in any way.
The lawmakers say that enabling inmates to donate organs hits two birds with one stone as it will "restore" their "bodily autonomy" while alleviating an organ scarcity catastrophe. As per BBC, there are nearly 5,000 people in the state are on the waiting list for an organ transplant.
One of the bill's sponsors, state Rep. Carlos González, told Boston.com in an email that he was inspired in part by a close friend who needs dialysis three to four times a week while waiting for a kidney donation.
González said that a variety of comorbidities put people of color at risk for organ failure, citing greater rates of diabetes and heart disease in Hispanic and Black communities, as well as higher rates of chronic liver disease in Hispanics. He contends that expanding the pool of possible donors is an effective method to boost the chance of those patients obtaining essential treatment.
Through the bill, a bone marrow and organ donation program will be created within the Massachusetts Department of Correction, which would be overseen by a committee comprised of MADOC personnel, a donation specialist, and an advocate for the rights of jailed people.
The bill clarifies that donation-related expenditures would be borne by benefiting institutions, and the Department of Correction would not profit from donations.
But not every inmate would be permitted to give a kidney or a lung. According to the proposed bill, a convict is first chosen by a committee based on their eligibility and need. It also allows for a panel of medical professionals and campaigners might also weigh in.
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Advocates Oppose Proposed Bill
As expected, critics immediately saw the bill as ethically fraught. Futurism reports that Michael Cox, executive director of the prison abolition organization Black and Pink Massachusetts, said that the bill smacked as "unethical and depraved." First, it is unethical to sell organs and more so to incentivize the selling of organs.
He pointed out that the bill seeks to incentivize the selling of body parts for the inmate's freedom, which is appalling. The nonprofit organization Families Against Mandatory Minimums president Kevin Ring told Insider that the bill looks like something out of a science fiction book or horror story.
He added that it was like an idea that a class of subhumans whose body parts can be harvested because they are unlike the population or because these people are so desperate for freedom that they are willing to donate their organs.
For now, it remains unclear whether the bill stands a chance of moving forward. But both Gonzalez and the critics agree that the inmates should have the freedom to donate organs or bone marrow if they chose to do so out of their own free will. However, Cox emphasized that it cannot be incentivized because it could go down a bad path.
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