title: From blood donation to kidney sales: the gift relationship and transplant commercialism.
abstract: In The Gift Relationship, Richard Titmuss argued that the practice of altruistic blood donation fosters social solidarity while markets in blood erode it. This paper considers the implications of this line of argument for the organ market debate. I defend Titmuss' arguments against a number of criticisms and respond to claims that Titmuss' work is not relevant to the context of live donor organ transplantation. I conclude that Titmuss' arguments are more resilient than many advocates of organ markets suggest, and more relevant to the debate than is commonly appreciated.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Human Bioethics, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University, Menzies Building, 20 Chancellors Walk, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia. julian.koplin@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Julian J
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2752-7334
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Koplin
mesh_terms: D000533:Altruism; D001782:Blood Donors / Q000941:ethics*; D003132:Commerce / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics*; D033001:Directed Tissue Donation / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D037921:Gift Giving; D006801:Humans; D016030:Kidney Transplantation / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics*; D019520:Living Donors / Q000941:ethics; D040541:Marketing / Q000191:economics / Q000941:ethics; D012945:Social Values; D009927:Tissue and Organ Procurement / Q000191:economics* / Q000941:ethics*
keywords: Blood donation; Organ transplantation; Solidarity