May 25, 2006 2:48PM # Ezra Klein, Libertarian? By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE Since I’ve [disagreed](https://www.cato.org/2006/05/02/depends-on-what-the-meaning-of-universal-is/) with Ezra Klein in the past, I am pleased to report that we agree on what to do about the 7,000 Americans who [die](http://www.optn.org/latestData/step2.asp) every year while waiting for transplantable organs. In a recent [post](http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2006/05/friends_in_stra.html), Klein notes that the shortage of organs is due to a ban on payments to organ providers. Klein advocates lifting that ban. My favorite line: > *We’ve stupidly disallowed payment for organs (if money can’t buy you life, why keep it around?)…* Klein brought to mind an observation made by Prof. Richard Epstein last week in the *[Wall Street Journal](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB114765339774152572-search.html?KEYWORDS=richard+epstein&COLLECTION=wsjie/6month)*: > *Only a bioethicist could prefer a world in which we have 1,000 altruists per annum and over 6,500 excess deaths \[to\] one in which we have no altruists and no excess deaths.* In *[Healthy Competition](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1930865813/qid=1147787934/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-5262745-5443247?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)*, Mike Tanner and I argue for repeal of Sen. Orrin Hatch’s 1984 National Organ Transplant Act, which prohibits payments to organ providers. In a recent issue of Cato’s *Regulation* magazine, Prof. Lloyd Cohen throws up his hands and [issues a challenge](https://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv28n3/v28n3-1.pdf) to those opposed to such payments. Cohen has re-written his will to ensure that when he dies, his organs cannot be harvested unless his estate is paid $864.27 per organ. Why? Because that requirement will create a real-life situation where paying up will generate more transplantable organs. That will force the bioethicists to explain to four, maybe five families who have their checkbooks in hand, *We’re sorry, but your loved one must die for our principles*. Cohen urges others to insert similar clauses into their wills, just to get the message through the bioethicists’ heads. Cohen and other powerful presenters will speak at a June 12 [conference](http://www.aei.org/events/type.upcoming,eventID.1337,filter.all/event_detail.asp) on organ markets at the American Enterprise Institute. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).