I was going to write a long storytelling OP to set up the situation, but then I lost interest. So instead it’ll be a short storytelling OP.
A fabulously rich person we’ll call Geoff has a ten-year-old daughter, Amy, who is in desperate need of a liver transplant. Geoff and Amy are in a jurisdiction where it is legal to pay for that. By means I am too lazy to make up, Geoff discovers that you are a viable match and offers to pay you to donate half of yours.
Okay, my questions are in three areas.
First, assuming that you’re willing at all, what’s your price?
[ul]
[li]Medical expenses only (including time spent in rehab)[/li][li]Medical expenses plus a smallish fee–say ten grand.[/li][li]A small fortune – say $1,000,000.[/li][li]Enough to retire on – say $10,000,000.[/li][/ul]
Second, assuming you might be willing to do it for the money, are there any circumstances you can imagine that would make you say no?
Last, if you would categorically refuse to donate your liver regardless of the payoff, why is that?
Don’t bother waiting for the poll. There isn’t one.
I’d definitely do it. I’m poor, and it’ll grow back. I would say it would be nice to save the kid too, but in this situation I guess he’d just buy it from someone else if not me.
I’d probably do it for a few thousand plus expenses if that was the best offer I could get, although I would think Geoff was a jerk for not paying more if he’s fabulously rich.
As for situations I wouldn’t do it in, well I guess if I found out that someone close to me needed part of my liver instead, or if I happened to come into a whole bunch of money.
Assuming I would be left with enough liver to live a relatively ‘normal’ life, I’d think that Geoff could cover my expenses, fork over a million, and cover any possible related medical complications for life.
That’s minimum, of course. I’d try to gouge him for a generous maintenance income as well.
Doing a little research, I am likely to miss 6 weeks of work. I would need at least my salary for that timeframe plus enough for childcare for the duration.
Enough to retire on, very comfortably. The exception being if I knew that the rich stranger and/or the child were scumbags by whatever definition I determine.
Lessee… time off work, time in hotel/hospital/recovery, medical expenses, potential later complications medical expenses, and pain&suffering.
I was going to say 10,000, but with the state of medical expenses, I think that a million would be a safer compensation for a one-time-payment. If he’s willing to pay it, that’s what I’m asking for.
If not, then 10,000 + current medical expenses + payment for missed work would be totally acceptable, with the codicil that dear Geoff is on the hook for any further medical expenses I may incur later in life due to my liver sharing.
My price is somewhere between $10k and $1m. I would do it in a heartbeat (liver cycle?) for $1m, and I wouldn’t do it for $10k, unless I was the only match and the family couldn’t easily afford to pay me more.
For those of you feeling too generous, don’t forget you are risking you life by undergoing that operation. Maybe not much, but it is a risk. Add some money to your fee for that!
I’m going to say that I’d ask for a million + medical expenses (I wonder how OHIP would deal with this or if I’d have to fly to the US hospital where Amy was).
If he offered less I’d probably think he was a jerk since he could clearly afford it but I would likely go down to 500k + medical expenses. I doubt I’d go lower than that, that would obviously more than cover my 6 weeks recovery but I’d have (another) abdominal scar and recovery from surgery is a pain. In addition there’s a small but not insignificant chance of death so I would be clear that while Amy could still have the liver in that case my estate would be paid double.
My immediate first response was NO. Followed shortly by the thought “He could probably pay me enough to get me to change my mind.” How much that would be I have no idea but I’d feel guilty all my life if I refused, say, $1 million that could really help my SO and I and help a little girl all at the same time.
But I had a medical procedure on Friday and I realized once again that I really have an inherent distrust of doctors and medicine. Sure, I go to the doctor, and I had this procedure done voluntarily, but it was non-surgical. To voluntarily get cut open (that is what you need, right?) is and would be a big deal.
Assuming the rich dude could afford it, I’ll hit him for the full ten million, and more if possible. I wouldn’t retire, but that’s enough money to start a respectable little advocacy nonprofit or public-interest law firm. For that matter, it’s plenty to finance a campaign for public office in DC. A fortune like this gives you a very, very good shot at power - I’d be a fool to pass it up.
Yes, I’d be risking my life. But only a little, and there are plenty of men who’ve taken much greater risks for much less impressive rewards.
It’s just been there all my life, since as early as I can remember. No, I don’t remember why. My mom was a nurse, maybe that’s what contributed to it. Too many stories of incompetence. But I am skeptical about nearly everything they say, especially when they say “We know what to do” and “Take this medicine, it will be all better”.
As to what form it takes…for years and years and years it took something horrible for me to ever go to the doctor. Once I hit my twenties and was on my own I never went.
In my mid-thirties I’ve started to go to the doctor more regularly but I am still dubious that they really know all that much, and I can’t stand older doctors - I feel they are probably not keeping up with modern technologies. Medicine is changing literally every day.
On top of all that I just finished reading “How we do Harm” by Otis Brawley which gave me even more doubt.
And when I have to go under anesthesia of any kind I feel a strong sense of mistrust, even if I generally trust the doctor beforehand.
So a lot of little things come together to contribute.
As to circumstances in which I might decline the offer - well, if Geoff has such a nasty public image that money from him would be politically toxic, I’d be a lot less interested. I’m only interested in the money if I can turn it into power; I can maintain an enjoyable standard of living on my own, thank you kindly.
So, if Geoff were a problematic person, I’d have to believe I could find some way to distance myself from the man, or otherwise make the money less of a political albatross. Simply trying to cover it up wouldn’t be acceptable; lies and cover-ups might work for a while, but failures are completely and unrecoverable.
I’d totally do it for phat stacks of cash - the question is, if I ask for enough to retire on is he just going to go find a cheaper match? I mean, how strong is my negotiating position here? I wouldn’t do it for ten grand, I’d do it for a million, I don’t know how I’d feel about numbers in between.
