Korean Donors Were Paid For Eggs

Korean Donors Were Paid For Eggs

One of the members of Hwang Woo-Suk’s research team has admitted at a press conference that he paid egg donors 1.5 million won ($1,400) per donor. He said that he saw the money as compensation for hospitalization, hormone treatment, and lost time from work. Roh Sung-il, head of the infertility clinic at Mizmedi Women’s Hospital in Seoul, said that he made the decision to “compensate” the women without Hwang’s knowledge. He also said that Hwang brought in some women who donated eggs without any payment. Roh refused to say whether any of the women were also members of the research team. The payments were not illegal at the time they were made.

The story is reported various places, including in the Korea Times, The International Herald Tribune, and Chosun Ilbo. The Chosun Ilbo editorial on the issue says that Hwang’s team must be supervised and South Korea must not be seen as ignoring international bioethics guidelines.

This is an interesting issue. On the one hand, I don’t believe that biological material should be sold, because that would quickly lead to exploitation of the poor, among other issues. On the other hand, invasive medical procedures, hospitalization, and lost time from work do seem compensable and I can see Roh’s reasoning—if he is being truthful, it seems kindness more than anything else. At this point the egg donor situation remains murky enough that donors must be willing to volunteer their time as well as their bodies and not receive any form of payment; coercion would be too possible with any kind of compensation. Egg donation must be treated in the same manner that blood donation is done. But let’s find a way to acknowledge and thank the women who donate.