Our Bodies and Healthcare: To Commodify or Not To Commodify?

We will be meeting at the Pablo Creek Library in the Conference Room.

In this week’s SocraticSessions, we’ll look at modern healthcare through an economics lens: what happens when parts of the human body and key medical services are treated like products in a market? From IVF and egg donation to organ shortages and clinical trials, we’ll explore where commodifying human life feels acceptable, where it becomes troubling, and how incentives, policy, and ethics collide. No prior expertise needed—just curiosity and a willingness to think out loud with others.

-When is it okay to treat the body as a source of income or benefit?
(for example, getting paid for a clinical trial, egg donation, or plasma; or donating to help a community/charity)

-When is it not okay and what makes those cases feel like a line has been crossed?

-Who should decide where that line sits: individual choice, medical ethics, the law, or broader social values?