Cadaver organ contracts are the brainchild of George Mason University economist and law professor Lloyd Cohen. Buying and selling human organs is against the law in the U.S., whether from live or dead bodies. Cohen believes this must change. His concise argument: "If you pay people for something, they will provide more of it." There is certainly an urgent need. Right now 87,000 Americans are on the kidney transplant wait list; within the year at least 4,000 will die. Around 17 people die each day while waiting for donor organs. Cohen's proposal to allow people to contract to sell their organs after they die neatly gets around the main objection to legalizing the sale of organs: that poor people would be tempted to cut themselves open for cash.
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