Organ Trafficking
It has been a while since I posted on this blog, and thought I would begin again by posting a generalized article on organ trafficking by Samuel D Uretsky, PharmD, where he gives a terrific, simplified, concise overview of this ever-growing business. When you read the article carefully, its very terrifying where this is all leading unless our government and governments internationally do things to intercede before it is too late.....
And now the article:
Dear Friends:
I wish to warn you about a new crime ring that is targeting business travelers. This ring is well organized, well funded, has very skilled personnel, and is currently in
most major cities and recently very active in New Orleans. The crime begins when a business traveler goes to a lounge for a drink at the end of the workday. A person in the bar walks up as he sits alone and offers to buy him a drink. That's the last thing the traveler remembers until he wakes up in a hotel room bathtub, his body submerged to his neck in ice.
There is a note, the email continues, taped to the wall instructing the business traveler not to move and to call 911. A phone is on a small table next to the bathtub. He calls 911, which has become quite familiar with this crime. He is instructed by the 911 operator to very slowly and carefully reach behind him and feel if there is a tube protruding from his lower back. He finds the tube and answers, "Yes." The 911 operator tells him to remain still, having already sent paramedics to help. The operator knows that both of his kidneys have been harvested.
The story is an urban legend but, because the trade in transplantable body parts is real, it may be based in fact. Snopes.com suggests that it may have begun with a real incident involving a Turkish man who had gone to England for the purpose of selling his kidney.
Sources of Organs
Aside from explicit donation, there are two sources of transplantable organs from cadavers. Sometimes, despite the deceased having said that s/he did not want to be a donor, the organs are harvested anyway. In other cases, the organs of people who have died without specifically saying "no" may be harvested – which may be illegal or legal (in the case of nations that have "presumed consent" laws, such as Singapore, Belgium, Austria, and Spain).
Presumed consent laws are intended to increase the availability of donor organs. In the case of presumed consent, anyone who dies without explicitly refusing to offer their organs is assumed to have given consent for organ harvesting. (In some countries, such as Austria, the family can override the presumed consent.) Of course, even if the deceased is carrying a note requesting that organs not be harvested, things can be overlooked.
There is a benefit to presumed consent laws, but it's clearly a touchy issue. In some cultures, any sort of physical alteration to the body may be considered mutilation, and violate religious precepts. In the desire for more transplantable organs, social and cultural values are not always respected, and the emotional effect on the families of involuntary donors is ignored. What should be a serious ethical question has been too often tossed aside in the interest of quick solutions (or quick profits).
Traffic and Trafficking
Motor vehicle accidents are one of the principal sources of corpses whose organs can be harvested. The victims are normally young, healthy, and usually die from head injuries, leaving transplantable organs intact. A March 2004 Los Angeles Times op-ed piece referred to the scandal in 1997, wherein the Los Angeles coroner's office was found to have sold more than 500 pairs of corneas in one year to the Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank. The coroner's office received up to $335 per pair of corneas, which Doheny resold at $3,400 per pair.
In March 2004, the Director of the Willed Body Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was arrested for the illegal sale of body parts from cadavers that had been donated to UCLA for research. The body parts dealer indicted in the case said he had paid $700,000 for the opportunity to go into UCLA's freezer and take parts from as many as 800 cadavers. It has been estimated that a single cadaver has a potential market value of $200,000.
Wanna Buy A …
There is also a thriving trade in obtaining transplantable organs from living donors, sometimes for money, and sometimes not. Not surprisingly, kidneys represent the largest area of this trade. Only one kidney is needed for life, and people desperate for a few dollars are sometimes induced to sell one kidney in order to get out of debt. While the overwhelming majority of sellers come from the poorest nations, and are dealing with debt and desperation, one British man offered a kidney on eBay, with a reserve price of £50,000 (approx. US$92,000). He needed the money to care for his six-year-old daughter who had cerebral palsy.
Although there are international conventions banning the sale of human organs, not all nations have written these rules into their laws. And there are no statistics. While the human organ transplant trade has been investigated by many news organizations, and stories have run in The New York Times and on Discovery television, their reports are anecdotal, with no estimates on either the number of procedures performed, or the amount of money changing hands. The reporters do, however, agree on the essential basics – the very poorest people, those in the slums of India and Brazil, are induced to sell their kidneys.
Clear Directions
In poor nations, selling a kidney or cornea may be the only alternative to death by starvation for an entire family. On February 10, 2005, the Manchester Guardian headlined a report: "Transplant tourists flock to Pakistan where poverty and lack of regulation fuel trade in human organs."
In 2003, the Chinese city of Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, passed a law prohibiting sale of human organs, the first Chinese city to issue such a ban. (China had been a major center of the black market organ trade.) There have been allegations that China has executed prisoners solely in order to harvest their organs. Indeed, Chinese prisoners, it has been claimed, were executed by a gunshot to the head in order to avoid damage to commercially valuable hearts, livers, and kidneys.
In 2003, The New York Times reported on a ring of organ sellers operating in South Africa and Brazil. A 2001 report in The New Courier (a UNESCO publication) told of Brazilian hospitals which were harvesting transplantable kidneys from patients who were admitted for unrelated surgeries. An even more grisly tale, although one that has been rejected by experts as urban folklore, describes Gypsy cabs, driving through the slums of Sao Paulo, looking for children. The children are kidnapped, and days later their bodies, less kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, and corneas, are left in the streets.
And because the need for transplantable organs exceeds the supply by a factor of 10, there has been a growing trade in transplant tourism with select medical sites in Turkey, Eastern Europe, Cuba, Germany, and the United States. As described by the Berkeley Organs Watch, a non-profit organization that monitors the organ trade, these clinics can resemble four-star hotels or even as in Cuba, health spas for the rich and famous. "In general," the report states, "the organs flow from South to North, from poor to rich, from black and brown to white, and from female to male bodies."
Kidneys for Sale
Apologists for the trade in human kidneys describe it as a reciprocal benefit. Amir Masood Nasir, chief executive of Masood Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, has been quoted as saying, "It is not buying or selling. One family is dying of hunger. The other family is on dialysis three or four times a week. If they decide to cooperate, they can help save each other."
The website for Masood Hospital tactfully describes the kidney transplant procedure. On day 1, the patient is admitted to the hospital. On day 2, the donor is admitted to a separate, private room. There is no mention of where the donor is admitted from. It's as if the hospital has a waiting list of donors, each anxious for a call, and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sell the last item of value they have. An anonymous American organ broker was quoted in the UNESCO report as saying, "Don't think of me as an outlaw. Think of me as a new version of the old-fashioned marriage broker. I locate and match up people in need."
Despite the bright candy coat, the benefit is mostly one-sided. In October 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association, published a study of the economic and health consequences of selling a kidney in India. The vast majority of the sellers sold their kidneys to pay off debts, with an average price of US$1,070. In most cases, the money earned was used to repay debts, or buy food or clothing. But after the nephrectomy, more families were living in poverty, and most had fallen back into debt. Worse yet, 86% of donors reported a decline in their health status, making it difficult for them to work.
A similar study of kidney vendors in Iran showed similar results, with most of those who sold their kidneys complaining of severe depression and physical disabilities. The long-term effects on black market kidney sellers were almost universally negative. In the best cases, reasonably ethical clinics provide quality care and follow-up care for the kidney sellers, but too many reports describe subjects who have lost the money they had gained, and now live with permanent physical and emotional disabilities.
It is this record of tragedy that has led some people to suggest legalizing the sale of human organs. They have suggested that a fair market, offering a fair price, with good care for the donors, including emotional counseling and follow-up care, might help replace the sordid black market that exists today.
But with so many wealthy people willing to spend more to avoid the waiting list, would a white market with fluctuating prices replace the current black market trade, or simply help raise prices for those who could offer kidneys and corneas a little bit faster. If the market became truly lucrative – after all, a wealthy Westerner may pay more for a "safer" "familiar" Western kidney than one whose source was a dweller in a third world slum – would donors in the West come forward?
And now the article:
Dear Friends:
I wish to warn you about a new crime ring that is targeting business travelers. This ring is well organized, well funded, has very skilled personnel, and is currently in
most major cities and recently very active in New Orleans. The crime begins when a business traveler goes to a lounge for a drink at the end of the workday. A person in the bar walks up as he sits alone and offers to buy him a drink. That's the last thing the traveler remembers until he wakes up in a hotel room bathtub, his body submerged to his neck in ice.
There is a note, the email continues, taped to the wall instructing the business traveler not to move and to call 911. A phone is on a small table next to the bathtub. He calls 911, which has become quite familiar with this crime. He is instructed by the 911 operator to very slowly and carefully reach behind him and feel if there is a tube protruding from his lower back. He finds the tube and answers, "Yes." The 911 operator tells him to remain still, having already sent paramedics to help. The operator knows that both of his kidneys have been harvested.
The story is an urban legend but, because the trade in transplantable body parts is real, it may be based in fact. Snopes.com suggests that it may have begun with a real incident involving a Turkish man who had gone to England for the purpose of selling his kidney.
Sources of Organs
Aside from explicit donation, there are two sources of transplantable organs from cadavers. Sometimes, despite the deceased having said that s/he did not want to be a donor, the organs are harvested anyway. In other cases, the organs of people who have died without specifically saying "no" may be harvested – which may be illegal or legal (in the case of nations that have "presumed consent" laws, such as Singapore, Belgium, Austria, and Spain).
Presumed consent laws are intended to increase the availability of donor organs. In the case of presumed consent, anyone who dies without explicitly refusing to offer their organs is assumed to have given consent for organ harvesting. (In some countries, such as Austria, the family can override the presumed consent.) Of course, even if the deceased is carrying a note requesting that organs not be harvested, things can be overlooked.
There is a benefit to presumed consent laws, but it's clearly a touchy issue. In some cultures, any sort of physical alteration to the body may be considered mutilation, and violate religious precepts. In the desire for more transplantable organs, social and cultural values are not always respected, and the emotional effect on the families of involuntary donors is ignored. What should be a serious ethical question has been too often tossed aside in the interest of quick solutions (or quick profits).
Traffic and Trafficking
Motor vehicle accidents are one of the principal sources of corpses whose organs can be harvested. The victims are normally young, healthy, and usually die from head injuries, leaving transplantable organs intact. A March 2004 Los Angeles Times op-ed piece referred to the scandal in 1997, wherein the Los Angeles coroner's office was found to have sold more than 500 pairs of corneas in one year to the Doheny Eye & Tissue Transplant Bank. The coroner's office received up to $335 per pair of corneas, which Doheny resold at $3,400 per pair.
In March 2004, the Director of the Willed Body Program at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) was arrested for the illegal sale of body parts from cadavers that had been donated to UCLA for research. The body parts dealer indicted in the case said he had paid $700,000 for the opportunity to go into UCLA's freezer and take parts from as many as 800 cadavers. It has been estimated that a single cadaver has a potential market value of $200,000.
Wanna Buy A …
There is also a thriving trade in obtaining transplantable organs from living donors, sometimes for money, and sometimes not. Not surprisingly, kidneys represent the largest area of this trade. Only one kidney is needed for life, and people desperate for a few dollars are sometimes induced to sell one kidney in order to get out of debt. While the overwhelming majority of sellers come from the poorest nations, and are dealing with debt and desperation, one British man offered a kidney on eBay, with a reserve price of £50,000 (approx. US$92,000). He needed the money to care for his six-year-old daughter who had cerebral palsy.
Although there are international conventions banning the sale of human organs, not all nations have written these rules into their laws. And there are no statistics. While the human organ transplant trade has been investigated by many news organizations, and stories have run in The New York Times and on Discovery television, their reports are anecdotal, with no estimates on either the number of procedures performed, or the amount of money changing hands. The reporters do, however, agree on the essential basics – the very poorest people, those in the slums of India and Brazil, are induced to sell their kidneys.
Clear Directions
In poor nations, selling a kidney or cornea may be the only alternative to death by starvation for an entire family. On February 10, 2005, the Manchester Guardian headlined a report: "Transplant tourists flock to Pakistan where poverty and lack of regulation fuel trade in human organs."
In 2003, the Chinese city of Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, passed a law prohibiting sale of human organs, the first Chinese city to issue such a ban. (China had been a major center of the black market organ trade.) There have been allegations that China has executed prisoners solely in order to harvest their organs. Indeed, Chinese prisoners, it has been claimed, were executed by a gunshot to the head in order to avoid damage to commercially valuable hearts, livers, and kidneys.
In 2003, The New York Times reported on a ring of organ sellers operating in South Africa and Brazil. A 2001 report in The New Courier (a UNESCO publication) told of Brazilian hospitals which were harvesting transplantable kidneys from patients who were admitted for unrelated surgeries. An even more grisly tale, although one that has been rejected by experts as urban folklore, describes Gypsy cabs, driving through the slums of Sao Paulo, looking for children. The children are kidnapped, and days later their bodies, less kidneys, heart, liver, lungs, and corneas, are left in the streets.
And because the need for transplantable organs exceeds the supply by a factor of 10, there has been a growing trade in transplant tourism with select medical sites in Turkey, Eastern Europe, Cuba, Germany, and the United States. As described by the Berkeley Organs Watch, a non-profit organization that monitors the organ trade, these clinics can resemble four-star hotels or even as in Cuba, health spas for the rich and famous. "In general," the report states, "the organs flow from South to North, from poor to rich, from black and brown to white, and from female to male bodies."
Kidneys for Sale
Apologists for the trade in human kidneys describe it as a reciprocal benefit. Amir Masood Nasir, chief executive of Masood Hospital in Lahore, Pakistan, has been quoted as saying, "It is not buying or selling. One family is dying of hunger. The other family is on dialysis three or four times a week. If they decide to cooperate, they can help save each other."
The website for Masood Hospital tactfully describes the kidney transplant procedure. On day 1, the patient is admitted to the hospital. On day 2, the donor is admitted to a separate, private room. There is no mention of where the donor is admitted from. It's as if the hospital has a waiting list of donors, each anxious for a call, and the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sell the last item of value they have. An anonymous American organ broker was quoted in the UNESCO report as saying, "Don't think of me as an outlaw. Think of me as a new version of the old-fashioned marriage broker. I locate and match up people in need."
Despite the bright candy coat, the benefit is mostly one-sided. In October 2002, the Journal of the American Medical Association, published a study of the economic and health consequences of selling a kidney in India. The vast majority of the sellers sold their kidneys to pay off debts, with an average price of US$1,070. In most cases, the money earned was used to repay debts, or buy food or clothing. But after the nephrectomy, more families were living in poverty, and most had fallen back into debt. Worse yet, 86% of donors reported a decline in their health status, making it difficult for them to work.
A similar study of kidney vendors in Iran showed similar results, with most of those who sold their kidneys complaining of severe depression and physical disabilities. The long-term effects on black market kidney sellers were almost universally negative. In the best cases, reasonably ethical clinics provide quality care and follow-up care for the kidney sellers, but too many reports describe subjects who have lost the money they had gained, and now live with permanent physical and emotional disabilities.
It is this record of tragedy that has led some people to suggest legalizing the sale of human organs. They have suggested that a fair market, offering a fair price, with good care for the donors, including emotional counseling and follow-up care, might help replace the sordid black market that exists today.
But with so many wealthy people willing to spend more to avoid the waiting list, would a white market with fluctuating prices replace the current black market trade, or simply help raise prices for those who could offer kidneys and corneas a little bit faster. If the market became truly lucrative – after all, a wealthy Westerner may pay more for a "safer" "familiar" Western kidney than one whose source was a dweller in a third world slum – would donors in the West come forward?
posted by JustHarmless @ 7:52 PM
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