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I read a book years ago 1980's or 90's possibly but the book may have been older where the ultra rich were able to buy or exchange the body parts of other people to enhance themselves. Not necessarily or just organs but muscular arms if theirs were week or flabby, stronger legs, etc. there is more to the story that is the only key component that I can remember.

One of the key components was that society in general could change parts, not just organs, with other citizens. It was something the rich could afford and that usually the poor ended up being the donors. It worked like an exchange, your week arms for some mill workers strong ones, etc.

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  • You’ve said novel, book and tagged short story. Can you clarify which this is?
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Commented Nov 1, 2018 at 7:45
  • Hm there was a Tales From The Crypt episode about this, possibly a source?
    – Broklynite
    Commented Nov 1, 2018 at 10:08
  • that is real life Commented Nov 1, 2018 at 20:20
  • This is a common SF trope. A lot of Larry Niven's stories (such as "The Jigsaw Man" and the Gil Hamilton stories) feature this, and it also figures in Frederick Pohl's Gateway.
    – Spencer
    Commented Nov 1, 2018 at 22:44

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If the people having parts removed are in a government mental asylum, and the protagonist is a psychologist there, it might be John Boyd's The Organ Bank Farm.

The plot involves a plague that has killed a substantial amount of the populace, where it seems survival is more likely for the very intelligent or the mentally incompetent. The protagonist is brought on to try to rehabilitate a group of children and he quickly learns that the site is being used to harvest body parts, the residents being considered property of the State, with the ultimate goal being brain transplants. His motivation is that, if he can make the brain transplants viable, these children won't be harvested.

It is a weird book, full of sex and violence, and my impression rereading it was that the survivors were universally mentally ill, the "non-crazy" ones being degrees of psychopaths, mistaken first cold intelligence.

If so, it was provided as an answer to my question, Short story about a psychologist with a punishment/reward machine learning you need punishment to reform malcontents

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    I've heard about but not read that novel, unfortunately that is not the one. One of the key components was that society in general could change parts, not just organs, with other citizens. It was something the rich could afford and that usually the poor ended up being the donors. It worked like an exchange, your week arms for some mill workers strong ones, etc. Both parties were alive after the exchange though the poorer were usually more disadvantaged afterward especially if they recieved a failing organ for their good one. Thank you for the suggestion though.
    – KellyW
    Commented Nov 1, 2018 at 18:53

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