# MA legislators propose letting prisoners donate organs in exchange for reduced sentences **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 1, 2023, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136 "2023-02-01T03:06:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/41 "2023-02-02T07:06:27Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Until we develop the ability to grow organs Not that I actually remember doing so, but I’m fairly sure I grew mine. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/42 "2023-02-02T07:15:16Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > The way to deal with organ shortage is to be a donor, and encourage others to be donors as well. Pretty sure the best (ethical) way to deal with organ shortage is to make everyone a donor upon death by default, unless they actively opt out. Versus our current system of having to actively opt in. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/43 "2023-02-02T08:17:18Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Pretty sure the best (ethical) way to deal with organ shortage is to make everyone a donor upon death by default, unless they actively opt out. Every time someone I’ve seen someone suggest this, it immediately gets followed by someone else saying “and if you opt out you should be ineligible for a transplant”. And then we’re right back to it being a sale, not a donation. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/44 "2023-02-02T11:46:25Z")
> [@Bootb](#): > > You must be an atheist, to equate “person” with “dead body parts.” Nobody who believes in any sort of after-life would do that. You think that the people in prison are dead? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/45 "2023-02-02T11:55:53Z")
That’s the _next_ step. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/46 "2023-02-02T12:11:09Z")
Is this a first? Does everyone on the SDMB agree that this is awful and repugnant and wrong and like WTF MA? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/47 "2023-02-02T12:20:29Z")
Quick! Somebody find a tangent we can argue about! ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/48 "2023-02-02T12:21:57Z")
So, if some drunk driver weaves his way down your street and runs over and kills your wife/child/grandchild, it’s okay if he buys his way out of jail with one of his kidneys? Really? ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/49 "2023-02-02T12:29:29Z")
Never mind I guess. I just noticed that @Bootb seems to somehow inexplicably be in favor of this. Sigh. This is why we cannot have nice things. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/50 "2023-02-02T12:40:42Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > like WTF MA? Just a quibble, it’s not MA, it’s 3 MA legislators. Way more bills get proposed than ever get voted for, and i can’t imagine this one will get any traction. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/51 "2023-02-02T12:42:42Z")
Fair enough. In that case, WTF 3 MA legislators! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/52 "2023-02-02T12:45:52Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > > [@needscoffee](#): > > > > Pretty sure the best (ethical) way to deal with organ shortage is to make everyone a donor upon death by default, unless they actively opt out. > > Every time someone I’ve seen someone suggest this, it immediately gets followed by someone else saying “and if you opt out you should be ineligible for a transplant”. > > And then we’re right back to it being a sale, not a donation. I’m okay without that provision. Lots of people never get around to writing a will. I’m sure the vast majority of healthy young victims of auto accidents won’t have opted out. I doubt that would meet the demand, but it would help. Also, to way to game the system is to research the rules in every state you are willing to live in. Because each state prioritizes recipients by different rules. A guy i used to work with moved from NY to NJ because he was near the bottom of the list for kidneys in NY and near the top in NJ. He got his transplant. My husband’s dentist suddenly uprooted to FL because that gave him a better shot at a liver transplant. We didn’t keep in touch with him, so i don’t know if it worked for him. I don’t think you can game the organ transplant system beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/53 "2023-02-02T12:59:46Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Not that I actually remember doing so, but I’m fairly sure I grew mine. Fair enough, make that “until _you_ can grow _mine_.” ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/54 "2023-02-02T13:33:53Z")
> [@Turki-lurki](#): > > Won’t fly. It is coersive. I cannot imagine any reputable institution allowing it. We’re not talking about a reputable institution allowing it, we’re talking about the Massachusetts penal system doing it. You know, the Massachusetts prisons for profit system? Those guys. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/55 "2023-02-02T13:52:19Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@k9bfriender](#): > > > > Until we develop the ability to grow organs > > Not that I actually remember doing so, but I’m fairly sure I grew mine Awesome! That’s good evidence that such a thing is physically possible! ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/56 "2023-02-02T13:53:28Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > Is this a first? Does everyone on the SDMB agree that this is awful and repugnant and wrong and like WTF MA? Nope, we have a poster praising them. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/57 "2023-02-02T15:27:15Z")
And not only praising them but equating prisoners to corpses to be harvested for spare parts. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/58 "2023-02-02T15:44:42Z")
Bootb licked. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/59 "2023-02-02T15:47:07Z")
I was thinking more of _Caught in the Organ Draft_ by Robert Silverberg. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136/60 "2023-02-02T15:54:06Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Every time someone I’ve seen someone suggest this, it immediately gets followed by someone else saying “and if you opt out you should be ineligible for a transplant”. > > And then we’re right back to it being a sale, not a donation. If one guy says, “We should do X,” pointing to a guy who says we should do X AND Y doesn’t actually refute the first guys argument. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ma-legislators-propose-letting-prisoners-donate-organs-in-exchange-for-reduced-sentences/979136.md?page=4)