ABSTRACT
This Conclusion reiterates that prohibiting plasma donor compensation harms and wrongs patients, and wrongs donors. It also addresses another moral issue associated with plasma procurement: The question of where plasma should be collected. The World Health Organization (WHO) exhorts its member countries to become self-sufficient in blood and blood products. This is unfortunate for pursuing a policy of national self-sufficiency in plasma would for many countries lead to worse healthcare outcomes for their populations given current conditions. This is because, for most countries, this approach to the procurement of blood and blood products would be likely to lead to a wasteful use of limited healthcare resources. International trade in plasma should thus perhaps replace self-sufficiency as a goal – unless self-sufficiency could be justified on the grounds that plasma is a strategic resource that countries should be able to produce for themselves. This Conclusion ends by explaining that while prohibiting plasma donor compensation would harm and wrong patients and wrong donors these conclusions might not be justified with respect to the prohibition of compensation for the donation of other bodily parts (such as kidneys, corneas, liver lobes, ova, and bone marrow) or services (such as surrogate pregnancy).
