Should organ donation be mandatory?

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A draft is a bit different, though. People who are drafted don't invariably die or have bits shot off.

Also, that some members of society might die due to a shortage of donated blood does not threaten society itself. The draft is supposed to be used only when society itself is in danger.

For Americans, they should consider the draft as a violation of their Constitutional rights under the 13th Amendment. Compulsory military service is involuntary servitude plain and simple. It is against the Law of the Land, yet it has been done. Fortunately we do not have a draft now in the U.S. but the principle of the military draft (which is no better than impressment or shanghai-ing) has not been properly renounced.

If the police cannot deputize a private citizen into a posse commitatus than how can the Government force a person into the armed services? Answer: by threatening him with a long jail term if he refuses.

ruveyn

ruveyn

I can see somewhat of a point, and I am concerned about the notion of a "blood-draft", but.... I do see the question of "Where are the lines?". It isn't as if the workings of a society are dictated by some transcendent law that covers every circumstance and behavior. While I support a commitment to human freedom as a normative ground, I don't think opposition to that is so clearly deontological as most do, as.... the lines are squishy, and the transgressions are difficult to measure. I mean... no matter how you look at it, sacrifices are made by people within society, and the "natural law" level of sacrifice is not some clear one.

Serving in the military at all is orders of magnitude more of a risk than donating blood.


Lives are lives. The US faces no real existential threat and has not for some time. Society demands sacrifices for the "War on Terror" even though terrorism kills fewer people than bad handwriting does.


No court has ever, or will ever, uphold your inane interpretation of the law. The 13th Amendment clearly was never intended to have anything to do with eliminating conscription.

BTW, we do still have the draft. It is not actively being used, but all the infrastructure is still in place. I was compelled to register for the draft on turning 18. In fact, the draft is even harsher than it was in your day- there are no college exemptions anymore. You get to finish the semester before you ship out, but you can't skip service by staying in school.

A draft can take significantly more than a little blood, true, but it is for emergencies. It is not continuously running.

The 'minor contribution' is something that people tend to be willing to provide voluntarily. Why not just ask for volunteers then?

I completely agree with this. I would without question believe that a volunteer program would likely be sufficient and that further action would potentially overstep the better framework for this.

The draft is to preserve society, not for saving lives per se.


Bad handwriting kills people?


The draft is not being used. Given the way wars are fought these days, it seems likely to me that it won't ever need to be used again, in America at least. That's a good thing.

Because we already do that and still have shortages? We even bribe people and still have shortages. Last time I donated a pint of blood, I got improv tickets, a t-shirt, a Subway coupon, snacks, drinks, and a pint of ice cream in return. Even with all those incentives, they aren't getting enough blood.


Over 7000/year in the US, more than terrorism has killed in the entire past decade (which was by far the worst terrorism decade we have ever seen).

I didn't know they were offering pints of ice cream. How come nobody ever told me?

It might just be the local blood bank here that does that. It's fairly traditional to give out cookies or some other treat, but a full pint of good ice cream is by far the best incentive I've seen for blood donations.

Cookies are a rather weak incentive though. I mean, I can get free cookies from just walking into a local bank. In no sense should that induce me to donate blood if that is the case. The incentives you got were rather large though, as.... I've only gotten a cookie, free drinks, and a t-shirt. I mean, from what I remember, I got more for donating plasma, as plasma donations will usually give you about $20 or more based upon body size, and often they give large incentives for first timers.(Like the place I donated plasma gave me $40 for my first two donations)

It has to be noted that a person cannot donate blood AND plasma as well, so really, by donating blood, one also is giving up multiple opportunities to donate plasma.

They've never given me cash, even for plasma or RBCs (which are usually what I donate). Actually, by donating plasma or RBCs you are giving up multiple opportunities to donate blood, since the mandatory waiting period between donations is much longer if you donate plasma or RBCs. But right, these are fairly large incentives. On multiple occasions they have also been passing out Subway sandwiches. But even with all of this, they still have trouble finding enough donors.

Also, where are these banks with free cookies? My bank doesn't give me cookies.

Proof enough that the contribution is not all that minor.

Honestly if they had real shortages they wouldn't be banning people from donating just for having been to the UK for three months.

Really? Never given cash for plasma? I've noticed multiple places advertising it. In fact, it's well known to happen in college towns, as a lot of broke and healthy adults live in the area.

No, you can donate plasma twice a week. There is no way you can donate blood that often. So, your information on plasma donation appears false.

I suppose different banks may do different things, however, free cookies are not a hard to find thing. Cookies are also very cheap at most grocery stores.

Subway sandwiches? (I feel like we're in an anecdote war) In any case, the incentives for donating plasma are clear. College students regularly take home about $40 a week from plasma donations. http://www.ehow.com/how_110908_sell-plasma.html (and reportedly higher) This is pretty common knowledge that if you want to make money, just donate plasma.

In any case, I am not aware of high benefits for blood donations. Some have noted a low level of compensation as well: http://www.nationalplasmacenters.com/ "One recent study of over 400 college students, age 18 to 22, found that 10 percent have sold their Blood plasma at least once for cash payments of from $9 to $20 per donation. Of that group, three out of five are former Red Cross donors who stopped donating Blood for a lollipop and a T-shirt when they started selling their plasma for cash!" Note: No footnote, so I can't vouch for their claim on a study. Any idiot can say "One recent study". In fact, one recent study has proven that most people who say "one recent study" without a citation are making it up.

I'll have to check that out. I've never seen an offer of money for donations. When I donate plasma down here, it's actually platelets+plasma, so perhaps that is why they impose the extra waiting period on multiple donations. I don't think I have ever donated plasma in isolation from any other blood components.

The usual waiting time for donating RBCs is 6 weeks. I've never donated straight plasma because the idea of putting the blood back in after it's out really freaks me out.

A lot of blood banks (I had thought all, but clearly not) no longer pay money for blood products because too many of the donors were junkies with no other way of making money, meaning that they had an inducement to lie on the questionairre and were more likely to be Hep C or HIV positive.