I have written earlier about the prospect of legalizing the trade of human organs. The discussion in the comments summarizes many arguments for and against this.
I think the consequences are as follows.
1. The supply of willing donors and organs will dramatically increase. Far fewer people will die waiting in line for donated organs.
2. Organs will fetch high prices. The thing of greatest value to most humans is life itself. If people are willing to pay even a fraction of what we know spend on medical care, so will they pay for matching organs when organ failure is imminent.
3. There will be an obviously great incentive to keep yourself healthy. Healthier lungs will obviously be preferable to tar-blackened lungs.
4. It will be highly suitable for social matching. Since it's hard to find good matches when you need them, matching donors is great. Whole networks of mutual organ donors could be matched - the larger, the more potential matches, the better.
5. Organs may not even carry the high net cost at all. If people insured each other, it could simply be a net trade in the long run.
6. People will live longer lives. Patients at the end-stages of their respective diseases will have better chances of survival and higher quality of life.
7. Death will not be such a tragic thing. When one dies, many others will survive.
8. Medical schools will have no shortage of human specimens. Once people come to terms with the meaty organs within their bodies, they will become more mature emotionally. For the first time in history, most people will come to terms with what life is, what death is, and how beautiful and marvelous this natural process is. They will come to see death as a kind of giving back.
9. There will be many more blood donors. Since the blood donation process is really nothing compared to surgical procedures, blood banks will have no shortage of suitable blood for saving lives.
The Bad
10. Illegal organ trade already occurs. It is a growing problem in many places. China harvests organs of prisoners. The only reason there is such great incentive for this is because there are no effective, legal ways to get to a limited supply of organs.
10K Illegal Kidneys Transplanted Every Year
It's not that "organ harvesting" will not occur in a free market, rather, there will exist alternatives.11. There is already profit generated. It's just that the donor and their associates will never get any of it, because that would be illegal.
I'm sure there are many more benefits. Human organs are basically a free resource and could trigger a new renaissance in terms of how we see ourselves and others as biological beings, that will change the course of human history.
