Book Review : Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts

The Author reviews Michele Goodwin’s book Black Markets: The Supply and Demand of Body Parts, published by Cambridge University Press, 2006. The book discusses the shortage of cadaveric organs available for transplantation. It argues that the shortage disproportionately impacts racial minorities. It then analyzes existing organ procurement laws and proposed alternatives, with a focus on market solutions. Black Markets is impeccably researched and persuasively argued, though some of its points are certainly controversial. The book is aimed at and very accessible to a general audience, but it will also prove interesting and informative to legal, medical and public health academic audiences. Even those readers who disagree with its proposals for reform of the organ procurement and allocation system will find the book informative and helpful in strengthening their understanding of the ethics, law and policy that affect organ transplantation in the United States. The book provides provocative and insightful material with which to continue the conversation about transplant policy