Organ Donation

There are a lot of people in this world that are going through organ failure. The National Kidney Foundation even found, “Every fourteen minutes someone is added to the kidney transplant list”. Statistically speaking, that is a great deal of people in need of a vital organ. The author Joanna MacKay talks about the need for organ donations in her article “Organ Sales Will Save Lives”. MacKay disputes her case briefly when stating her thesis in the first paragraph. She gives the audience her opinion on how the selling of organs should be built to become legal. Throughout the text she touches on the black market selling of kidneys. She also incorporates how other third world countries have allowed this practice of organ sales. The article includes her insight on what would happen if organ sales would be legalized and how it would be regulated.

The first organ donation was successfully performed in 1954 (Major). Since then, institutions have set up many regulations and processes that have saved many lives by allowing people to donate their organs, but government policies in the United States have set up laws that prevent individuals to make choices about their own bodies. The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) is a regulation that prevents those who prefer to profit from their donation. The purpose of the act was to, “prohibit the assignment of a monetary value to an organ for transplantation, thus preventing commercialization and ensuring some level of equity in access to organs” (Delmonico). “Punishment includes fines up to $50 000 and 5 years in prison” (Friedman). The only country that legalizes organs to be bought and sold is Iran. The Iranian government recognized the overwhelming increasing of resources needed for dialysis as more and more people were becoming ill, so the government decided to make it legal to pay citizens to have transplants mainly in the UK (Major). When a person is in need of an organ, doctors assess whether or not that person is eligible for a transplant (Bernard). Once they have been approved, the patient will be referred by the doctor to a transplant center where they evaluate the patient’s physical and mental health as well as the patient’s social support to clear the requirements for being considered a viable candidate for an organ transplant, and finding the right donor is all

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

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.

Faced with a loved one’s organ failure and in need of an organ donor to survive, are we concerned with the organs origin? As of July 2017, according to the Human Resources & Services Administration (HRSA), there are 117,000 people on the organ waiting list (over 82% of those require a kidney), and an average of 22 people die each day waiting for organs (HRSA, 2017). Comparatively, the amount of prisoners executed in the United States each year is relatively small, yet one organ donor can save as many as eight lives and a cadaver can be used numerous ways in research (HRSA, 2017). Additionally, prisoners can be considered as live organ donors, especially when volunteering a kidney. Allowing inmate organ donations seems simple, yet it is shrouded with moral, ethical, and possible legal concerns. Arguments favoring or opposing incarcerated donors include the prisoner’s health, vulnerabilities, retribution, deterrence, and any form of compensation by reducing sentencing or stays of execution. The ethical aspect of medical staffs and courts involved in inmate executions and the removal of organs leads to heated discussions. Remarkably, there are no federal laws concerning inmate organ donors, and only Utah enacted state laws on the issue. Subsequently, other than Utah, any prisoner’s request to take part in organ donation is decided by prison officials or the governor where the inmate is confined. As the need for organs continues to outpace

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,

“Organs” Satel insists, “are the rare trafficked good that saves lives.” ‘Yuan a Kidney?’ and ‘Financial Incentives for Organ Donation’ discuss opposing views of organ donation and trafficking. The National Kidney Foundation finds financial incentives for organ donation to be a form of exploitation, demeaning to society and all around unethical. Satel, however, holds a different perspective in the sense that if a citizen is informed and consenting to donating an organ to save another life for a monetary gain it could improve not only their welfare but the patient’s welfare as well. “Financial Incentives..” focuses strictly on a logical appeal; while “Yuan a Kidney?” is much more emotional while being logical. Satel provides the attention to donors as well as patients. NFK is speaking from a standpoint of legalities and ethics with no regards to donors as people willing to save a life, and little to patients in need of transplants.

It is an indisputable fact that under the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984, there is a larger demand for organs than there is available supply. As a result, people in need of kidney or liver transplants die every year while waiting. Under the current system, the only way to receive an organ transplant is either by having a family member selflessly volunteer to donate theirs, or by being put on a waiting list to receive an organ from the recently deceased. To combat this lack of supply, some in need of transplants desperately turn to the black market, paying enormous sums of money for organs that were more than likely taken illegally. Others die waiting for a transplant that was never realistically going to happen in time. In essence, the gap between supply and demand for organs is causing both a loss in quantity and quality of lives. However, changing policy to allow payments to organ donors would drastically reduce this gap, therefore decreasing wait time for organs and saving lives. The crucial step that must be taken to save these lives is to repeal the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 which prohibits the sale of organs.

Global organ shortage causes thousands of unwanted deaths because of a want for a kidney. Some people are not as lucky as Satel, who received one from a friend. Many organ sales are illicit due to corrupt brokers. Many donors are deceived because of the corrupt brokers. They may cheat patients of payment and or ignore the post-surgical needs.

Organ transplantation is a term that most people are familiar with. When a person develops the need for a new organ either due to an accident or disease, they receive a transplant, right? No, that 's not always right. When a person needs a new organ, they usually face a long term struggle that they may never see the end of, at least while they are alive. The demand for transplant organs is a challenging problem that many people are working to solve. Countries all over the world face the organ shortage epidemic, and they all have different laws regarding what can be done to solve it. However, no country has been able to create a successful plan without causing moral and ethical dilemmas.

In addition, surgeons have learned how to keep increasingly patients alive longer and how to make more people eligible for transplants. Still, there are shortage of organs donation. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), a non-profit, scientific and educational organization, organizes transplant registration. 3448 people died in 1995 because organs were not available for them in time. A third to a half of all people on waiting lists die before an organ can be found for them. This shortage raises several difficult ethical problems. How should the limited supply of organs be distributed? Should donors be encouraged to donate by the use of financial incentives? Opponents of the sale of organs point out that the inevitable result will be further exploitation of poor people by the

In the United States today, people lose their lives to many different causes. Though this is tragic, there are also a large group of people who could benefit from these deaths; and those people are people in need of an organ transplant. Although a sudden or tragic death can be heart breaking to a family, they could feel some relief by using their loved ones' organs to save the lives of many others. This act of kindness, though, can only be done with consent of both the victim and the family; making the donation of organs happen much less than is needed. The need for organs is growing every day, but the amount provided just is not keeping up. Because of the great lack of organ donors, the constant need for organs,

There are many tragic stories told of someone being abducted, murdered, or sedated all just for his or her kidneys. These stories are not fictional but a shocking reality (Callahan.) Over 10,000 illegal organ transplants are taking place every year (Campbell.) As improvements in technology and medicine are made the number of organ transplants per year also increase, due to the escalating amount of sources (Hongda.) The Chinese government needs to constitute and enforce laws prohibiting the exploitation of organ harvesting.