On consent

Reader comment on: Organ Donor Opt-Out
in response to reader comment: Not So Fast With My Organs, Maryland!

Submitted by DL (United States), Dec 13, 2012 11:35

It seems possible (and persuasively demonstrable) that this default rule better effects individuals' preferences. And similar default rules already exist: paramedics are given license, without any affirmative consent, to violate bodily integrity in innumerable ways to which a Christian Scientist would object. Maybe there are fewer--or only slightly more--people who would object to having their organs harvested than there are Christian Scientists. It's an empirical question.

How narrow is libertarian concept of consent here? Don't we consent to plenty of things (rules, safety standards, 4th Amendment rules specifically-tailored to driving or riding in a car) when we get a license and drive? Hard to imagine a drivers' license application that required us to check the box for all of those things...

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