I saw this headline on Yahoo.com and my first thought was "is this legal?"
Inmates in South Carolina could soon find that a kidney is worth 180 days
It looks like my neighbors to the south have come up with a creative way to exploit their ever-growing prison population.
The proposal approved by the Senate Corrections and Penology Subcommittee would set up a volunteer donor program in prisons to teach inmates about the need for donors. But lawmakers want legal advice before acting on a bill that would shave up to 180 days off a prison sentence for inmates who donate.
Every human rights organization and social welfare organization in this country should be down the throats of South Carolina about this right away. Not only are they planning to make this offer to a population that, while criminal, starts out less privileged, less wealthy, and less educated than average (not to mention less white), not to mention more desperate.
They are also buying those kidneys at an extortionate price. This is the payday lending of health care...sell us your kidney, a permanent loss of a vital organ, for half a year of physical freedom.
What kind of person might take such an offer? A person who doesn't know how grave the decision is? A person who is desperate?
South Carolina advocates for organ donations said the incentive policy would be the first of its kind in the nation.
But not, perhaps, in the world. Did they get the idea from China?
Federal law makes it illegal to give organ donors "valuable consideration." Lawmakers want to know whether the term could apply to time off of prison sentences.
"We want to make this work, we really do," said Republican Sen. John Hawkins. "But I want to make sure no one goes to jail for good intentions."
And thus ends another episode of "As the Stomach Turns"...