Organ procurement systems are similar to in-kind economies characterized by severe restrictions and transaction costs in the absence of money because currently they are based on altruism and gift-giving. A sale prohibition imposed by the government, amplified by an increasing demand for transplants leads to an ever-growing shortage of human organs throughout the world. The Law and Economics of Organ Procurement explores the legal and economic dimensions of various deceased and living organ procurement policies and investigates the effectiveness of current legislations related to deceased and living organ donations in the United States, Europe and other developed countries. The book further examines the legal instruments and the international standards to combat trafficking of humans for the purposes of organ removal and discusses their applications with a comparative analysis that later serves to develop a model of law enforcement that addresses the embodiment of specific legislation and the implementation of an optimal deterrence policy.
The book fuels the ongoing debate among medical doctors, economists, legal scholars, legislators and bioethicists about the regulatory, legislative and institutional aspects of liberalization in the exchange of transplantable human organs and appeals to readers of diverse backgrounds interested in the future of organ donation and procurement.