Massachusetts: proposal to coerce organ donation

[redbird]

A Massachusetts legislator is introducing a bill that would coerce prisoners to donate organs and bone marrow:


"Mass. Prisoners Could Choose Between Freedom And Their Organs"

Please, if you live or vote in Massachusetts, write to your state legislator to oppose this.

This is what I wrote to Rep. Honan, in case a script would be useful. (As usual, if you live in the same district, rewriting rather than sending the same exact message would probably be more effective.)

I am writing to urge you to oppose HD.3822. This proposed law would pressure incarcerated citizens to donate organs and bone marrow by offering a reduction in their sentences.

We are rightly horrified at news that China is forcing prisoners to donate organs. It would be equally wrong for Massachusetts to pressure them to do so.

Donating organs is never risk-free. Prisoners do not reliably have access to good medical care, and neither do people who were recently released from prison.

Also, this proposal may be a violation of federal law. It's illegal to pay for organ donations, or to offer donors any significant compensation. This would probably include a reduction in someone's time in prison.

(I got this from minoanmiss.)

Comments

[minoanmiss]

Excellent letter of excellence.

[beatrice_otter]

I do not live or vote in Massachusetts, but I know people who do, and I have passed this along.

My question is about the legislators who drafted this. Did they, like, get the idea from a SF dystopia?

[redbird]

I don't know where the person who wrote this got the idea.

I do know that in a collection of his short stories, Niven said that he'd written the story partly as a warning, and now really hoped he hadn't instead given people the idea that they could do this.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Appalling, but hardly a surprise. My thoughts went right to China's organlegging too. And it's a very short jump from the proposal to outright organlegging by murdering people.