Government Compensation For Organ Donation

It was only a matter of time before a businessman in Virginia saw a way to profit from the success of transplantation. In 1983 H. Barry Jacobs announced the opening of a new exchange through which competent adults could buy and sell organs. His failing was in his decision to use needy immigrants as the source of the organs (Pence 36). As a result Congress, passed the National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) in 1984, which prohibited the sale of human organs and violators would be subjected to fines and imprisonment (“Donation Details”).

“Illegal trade in kidneys has risen to such a level that an estimated 10,000 black market operation involving purchased human organs now take place annually or more than one an hour” (The Guardian, 2012). People that are in the need of an organ and willing to participate in illegal activities will either send a broker or go directly to another country where people are lacking in the knowledge of the situation or have an extreme disability and buy an organ rom that individual. In most cases a broker will promise the seller a great amount of money, but in the end they will only receive a fraction of the money that was promised and for some they receive no money. If a broker cannot buy an organ they will steal one. “However, when the organ, like many other valuables that cannot be bought, it is stolen resulting in flagrant violation of human rights” (U.N.O.D.C, 2000). It is currently illegal to buy or sell human organ in the United States and many other countries. People involved with the operation of human trafficking will be charged with a trafficking offence. “For a trafficking offence to be established must be evidence of an illegal act (recruitment) followed by an illegal means (coercion) for the purpose of exploitation (organ harvesting), one in ten organ transplants are illegal” (U.N.O.D.C, 2000). Illegal sales of organs are increasing the rate of criminal

Thousands of people in the United States are dying each year because of a failed kidney, and have no chance to receive one. In “Organ Sales Will Save Lives” by MIT student, Joanna MacKay argues against banning the sale of organs, but instead recommends legalizing and regulating the trade of human organs in order to try and save people’s lives. MacKay reports that in America alone, approximately 350,000 people struggle each year with kidney failure. Since there is no cure, and buying kidneys is currently illegal, this leads the person to search for other options that usually result in purchasing organs on the black market. MacKay states that a black market purchase allows the recipient to buy a fresh, healthy organ from a living donor without the agonizing process of waiting on a list (157-158). MacKay believes that both the recipient and donor would benefit in the legalization and regulation process and if this comes to pass, more organs would be made available for transplant and many people would get the chance to live another day.

Over the last few decades, the number of patients on organ waiting lists in the US has continued to soar way above the number of organ donor. In some cases, patients have died waiting for organs from donors. According to available statistics, more than 100,000 patients are in the US transplant list waiting for organ donors. On the other hand, only 20% of these patients are likely to receive a legitimate organ donor and the fate of the other 80% lies in the balance (Rattenni 20). This shortage in the life saving organ transplant has led to a surge in illegal human trafficking cartels and black market vendor ready to exploit the desperate situation of these patients. In some cases, there have been cases of living donor ready to sale their organs for cash rewards.

Dying painfully in a hospital bed is not the way anyone wants to go. Unfortunately for many people, it is a reality. Thousands of people a year end up dying while waiting for an organ that could save their lives. While on the other side of the world, thousands of people die a year, but from infection when an organ is forcefully taken from them to sell on the black market. There are two sides of the organ donation list, and both can end in death. This paper will discuss the shortage of donated organs and the issues with the current donation system. It will also discuss the black market for transplant organs and possible solutions to viable organ shortage. The focus of this paper will be on transplant kidneys as they are the most desirable organ for buyers and sellers.

There are 112 thousand people on the organ transplant list and 22 people die every day because they cannot find a match ("Organ Donation Statistics", 2017). In 1984, under the National Organ Transplant Act, America outlawed the buying and selling of organs. If caught selling organs illegally, those involved shall be fined not more than $50,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both (Prohibition of Organ Purchases, 2011). With organizations like Planned Parenthood selling the body parts of aborted fetuses, the compensation of organs has been compared to prostitution. (Gebelhoff, 2015). If organ donors begin being compensated for their gifts of life, the Black Market organ trafficking will increase due to supply and demand of organs which in return creates a higher victim rate related to the black market. Offering money for organs can be viewed as an attempt to coerce economically disadvantaged Americans to participate in organ donation even though these groups of people have been shown to be less likely to be candidates, monetary incentives for organs could be characterized as exploitation (National Kidney Foundation, 2003). The Compensation of organ donation is unethical due to the acts by organizations such as Planned Parenthood, black market increases along with acts of cruelty towards unexpecting victims, and the increase in costs to perform the transplants.

The desperation that rose as a result of the human organ shortage crisis led to the creation of an entire new business in the black market: transplant tourism. A similar term, called medical tourism, is defined as “the travel of residents of one country to another country for treatment” (Cohen, 2013). Like medical tourism, transplant tourism involves traveling as well, but with the motive of purchasing organs for transplant (Cohen, 2013). It is currently illegal in all countries—besides Iran, Singapore, and Saudi Arabia—to exchange human organs for money. Yet this particular black market still happens to thrive in many destination countries due to the government’s failure to monitor the issue or the absence of resources to detect its general occurrence. The parties involved in this business consist of three different categories: sellers, recipients, and brokers. The majority of sellers come from the poorest parts of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. The recipients come from the more affluent countries like the Middle East, south Asia, Europe, and North America. The brokers are the people running this particular black market and they reside in the countries where the illegal transplants occur: Istanbul, Cesenau, Moldova, Tel Aviv, and Manila—just to name a few (Cohen,

Authorized compensation for organ donors have caused controversy around the world. Since there are no specific laws that prohibits compensation for organ donation; families have been damaged and torn apart due to the lack of information about the aftermath of a donation. In Manila, families see their bodies as a way out of poverty and this belief has passed down from the father to the mother to their children. Compensation in the case mentioned above might not be enough for someone who donates a liver or other organs. It can only be fair if it is done under fair circumstances. The recovery after the procedure needs to be a very important subject to talk about with both donor and recipient. Apparently, what is most important is just to save

In the US recently the issue of human organ trafficking has become a bigger and bigger problem. When people hear that human organs are being bought and sold on the black market, they think that kind of thing only happens in third world countries, but it is quickly becoming one of America's biggest issues. People spend years of their lives on the transplant list waiting for a life saving operation, and they think that if they just buy whatever they need, it will solve all their problems. What most people don’t understand is how corrupt and dangerous organ trafficking is. The sale of human organs either facilitated through a doctor or on the

Out of fear and desperation, the steps implemented in the United States in matching organ donors to their organ recipients are ignored. Organ recipients, desperate for a lifesaving organ are seeking satisfaction and “have turned to unregulated sources of organs in third-world countries” (Bard, 2008). This desperate attempt to obtain the gift of life grows out of the frustration felt by many organ recipients who wait on organ donors lists, sometimes for years, for the perfect organ match (OPTN, 2015). For many organ recipients time is of the essence and they do not have years to wait, which is where the international illegal organ trade comes into play. Some statistics suggest “an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 kidneys are illegally sold globally

There are more than 120,000 people in the United States that are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant each year. Of that number, many are hoping for one or more of the five organs that can be donated while a person is still alive. Organ donation is the removal of a person’s organ or partial organ, so another person can use it. Donating an organ while alive can save up to eight lives, and it can be done by people donating their organs out of the goodness of their heart. Unfortunately not all organs are donated for the right reasons. Therefore, the selling of organs should continue to be banned in the United States because it would result in health not always being the determining factor.

One proposal that organ procurement agencies offer to pay funeral expenses for poor families if they will agree to donate the organs of a decrease relative (Hansmann, 1989). An alternative proposal would be that an individual would receive a current cash payment in exchange for the rights to harvest their organs if they should die under circumstances in which their organs were transplantable (Hansmann, 1989). This type of contract would be binding for the rest of the donor’s life. A popular proposal is a health insurance premium reduction plan. The price (premium reduction) that insurance companies would pay for the future rights to cadaveric organs would be depend on the price that they could obtain for those organs at the time of removal (Hansmann, 1989). Since the health insurance business is competitive, insurance companies would be able to take only a market rate of return for their efforts as intermediaries in such transactions (Hansmann, 1989). The rest of the price received by the insurance companies for the harvest organs would be passed through to their insureds in the premium reductions offered to them (Hansmann,

The legalization of organ sales has been proposed as a solution to two distinct problems. The first is the problem of illegal organ trafficking and the second is the problem of inadequate supplies of organs available for transplants. Gregory (2011) outlined the case for legalizing organ sales by arguing that the current shortage of organs fuels a black market trade that benefits nobody except criminals. He further argues that such a move would add organs to the market, thereby saving the lives of those who would otherwise die without a transplant, while delivering fair value to the person donating the organ. There are a number of problems with the view that legalizing the organ trade is beneficial. Such a move would exacerbate negative health outcomes for the poor, strengthening inequality, but such a move would also violate any reasonable standard of ethics, by inherently placing a price on one's life and health. This paper will expand on these points and make the case that we should not allow people to pay for organs.

In the United States, there are over one hundred thousand people on the waiting list to receive a life-saving organ donation, yet only one out of four will ever receive that precious gift (Statistics & Facts, n.d.). The demand for organ donation has consistently exceeded supply, and the gap between the number of recipients on the waiting list and the number of donors has increased by 110% in the last ten years (O'Reilly, 2009). As a result, some propose radical new ideas to meet these demands, including the selling of human organs. Financial compensation for organs, which is illegal in the United States, is considered repugnant to many. The solution to this ethical dilemma isn’t found in a wallet; there are other alternatives available

About seventy-Four people a day receive an organ transplant, however an average of seventeen people die each day waiting for transplants. Did you know that more than 88,000 men, women and children currently await life-saving transplants? Every 12 minutes another name is added to the national transplant waiting list. Of those 88,000 waiting, 61,000 of them are waiting for a kidney. How many of you reading this are organ donors? I use to feel that I didn't want a doctor taking anything from me after I have passed, even knowing that two of my family members, an uncle and cousin, had severe kidney disease. It wasn't until after they had passed away that I really thought seriously about organ donation. I'm not proud of my prior