Prisoners from minority populations in Chinese detainment camps are being used as sources for organ harvesting, sometimes when detainees are still alive. NBC News reported that detainees of marginalized groups, such as the Falun Gong and possibly Uighur Muslims, are targeted; their organs are fueling an estimated $1-billion transplant industry in China. Allegations of forced organ harvesting first surfaced in 2001. An international tribunal determined these operations are still occurring, if only because of the "impossibility of there being anything like sufficient 'eligible donors' under the recently formed PRC [People's Republic of China] voluntary donor scheme" (Rogers, 2019) for the number of transplants known to be performed. Survivors of detention camps say they were examined to make sure their organs were healthy. One doctor who performed an organ removal recalled how he once extracted an organ from a living person. The tribunal concluded that these were crimes against humanity but stopped short of calling the organ extractions genocide because they could not conclusively determine the motive. Consider that a single organ donor can save up to eight people, and a single tissue donor can enhance the lives of up to 50 people who are in need of a transplant to improve their quality of life. How would utilitarian ethics respond to the act of forced organ harvesting? Provide concrete examples to help support your reasoning.
Prisoners from minority populations in Chinese detainment camps are being used as sources for organ harvesting, sometimes when detainees are still alive. NBC News reported that detainees of marginalized groups, such as the Falun Gong and possibly Uighur Muslims, are targeted; their organs are fueling an estimated $1-billion transplant industry in China.
Allegations of forced organ harvesting first surfaced in 2001. An international tribunal determined these operations are still occurring, if only because of the "impossibility of there being anything like sufficient 'eligible donors' under the recently formed PRC [People's Republic of China] voluntary donor scheme" (Rogers, 2019) for the number of transplants known to be performed. Survivors of detention camps say they were examined to make sure their organs were healthy. One doctor who performed an organ removal recalled how he once extracted an organ from a living person.
The tribunal concluded that these were crimes against humanity but stopped short of calling the organ extractions genocide because they could not conclusively determine the motive.
Consider that a single organ donor can save up to eight people, and a single tissue donor can enhance the lives of up to 50 people who are in need of a transplant to improve their quality of life. How would utilitarian ethics respond to the act of forced organ harvesting? Provide concrete examples to help support your reasoning.
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