The Sale of Human Organs

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.

“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.

Krasnolutska also states that the Israeli-eastern European organ-trafficking rings extended their reach to the United States. In July 2009, the Justice Department charged Levy Rosenbaum, an Israeli in New York, with conspiracy of human organ trafficking. A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent caught Rosenbaum offering a kidney for $160,000 (Budiani-Saberi 37). Laws designed to prevent trafficking are currently unsuccessful. While prosecutors in places such as Israel, Brazil, Kosovo and Ukraine have successfully eliminated some of the organ-trading gangs, they’re still fighting powerful economic forces. “As long as there’s a worldwide shortage of legal donors for life-saving transplants, the exploitation of the poor will only grow. Unless governments around the world enforce existing laws on prohibiting procedures, the traffickers will continue to cultivate a growing legion of impoverished organ sellers who end up with an immense wad of cash,” says Glovin (Budiani-Saberi 39-40).

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.

Yet even though this system works so well in Iran, the rest of the world bans organ sales. Experts say that the market would be immoral. They state, for example, that it would exploit the poor, as most transplants would occur between poor donors and rich recipients, perhaps creating transplant tourism where rich people traveled to poor countries just to receive a transplant (Ghods & Savaj, 2006). The Iranian model addresses these problems very well – they forbid the transplantation of Iranian organs into foreigners, which eliminates the chances for transplant tourism. In addition, because the government pays for the purchasing of organs, both the poor and the rich have an equal chance of receiving transplants. Even though the majority of organ donors are poor, the majority of recipients are also poor (Ghods & Savaj, 2006).

In “Organ Sales Save Lives”, the author argues for the legalization and regulation of selling human organs, specifically kidneys, to those who need them. Her reasoning is that the laws forbidding this practice have enabled a black market that is harmful to both buyer and seller of organs. MacKay states that with no legally enforceable contracts and dubious procedural standards both parties in these transactions expose themselves to unnecessary risk. She claims that buyers can wait up to 10 years before receiving a kidney, with many dying before then, and sellers often do not receive fair compensation. MacKay believes that we do not have the moral right to try to stop those who live in abject poverty from selling a part of their own body to

Advancements in medicine are constantly offer new ways to prolong the lives of human beings. One of these important developments is organ transplantation, which has allowed people to trade out worn out organs for better parts. This idea seems ideal and offers a new lease on life for those in need. However, the regulation and distribution of organs has led to darker reality. Organs are in high demand with thousands of people on waiting list, with not nearly enough organs available. This shortage has leed to the trafficking of organs and although this is illegal the moral implications of selling body parts comes into question. R.R. Kishore possess a very interesting argument in defense of the

Every ten minutes a new person is added to the waiting list for organ transplants. With only three in one thousand people dying in a way that allows for organ donation, twenty-two people die each day waiting for a transplant. Almost all U.S. adults support organ donation, but less than half are actually signed up as organ donors (Organ Donation Statistics). Currently, the people desperate for organs or money turning to illegal hospitals and black-markets for buying and selling organs. Though the members of organ trafficking are rarely exposed and therefore the size of the problem is unknown, something has to be done for the people in need of organs now. The near future should hold a piece of health care technology that creates organs, combatting the unfortunate statistics of organ donations and the organized crime of trafficking organs.

(Kelly, 2013, p.1323) According to Kelly (2013) “the shortage drives desperate patients underground when established wait lists fail to meet their needs” (p.1322). These dangers have not only affected those giving or receiving organs, but have affected innocent adults and children. August 27, 2013 the DailyMail.com published a story about a six year old Chinese boy. The boy was taken from his yard and was taken to unsanitary conditions to be robbed of his eyes so the organ traffickers could sell the cornea of his eye. The problem with the sale of organs being illegal does not just stop at being dangerous; but does not allow the person to exercise their right of being free to do as they wish with their body. There are several dangerous and concerning problems that have been caused by illegal organ sales. The dangerous problems caused by organ sales being illegal may be reversed by legalizing organ sales with strict laws protecting donors and

There is a well-established industry for the buying and selling of organs to those who are in dire need of a transplant, both legally and illegally, in many different countries. The legalization of the sale of organs in the United States would have serious consequences and raises many ethical dilemmas- regardless of religious beliefs. There are several ideas presented in this paper that present the issues that have hindered the progression of the legalization of organs. Currently, there is an organ waiting list of 123,897 patients on the organ recipient list ,the number of transplant that have actually occurred in January - August 2014 are 19,426 (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network). There is no denying that there is a significant gap between the number of transplant surgeries performed and those awaiting a donor. The ever growing need for these lifesaving organs is clear, but to allow human beings to sell parts of their body is not the solution to this complex problem.

The National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law 98-507) makes it illegal to sell human organs and tissues in the United States (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2017). Violators are subject to fines and imprisonment. Congress made this law to ensure wealthy individuals do not have an unfair advantage for receiving an organ donation. Some illegal organ trafficking does occur; the World Health Organization estimates about one-fifth of all kidney donation may not be legally donated (Troug, 2005). Paying for an organ is an unjust moral pressure for the donor. In contrast to the law, some argue in favor of allowing organs to be sold for monetary incentive to increase the supply of organs to meet the high demand. This is an example of utilitarianism ethics, as the ends of giving lives from donating organs justify the means of paying for the organ. Furthermore, organs are being sold in other places of the world. For example, in India, individuals sell their kidneys for $700, and in Bombay, there have been kidnapping cases where people are killed for they organs (Troug, 2005).

“The initially, and most direct, complaint to organ sale is that it is too unsafe or hazardous for paid organ donors. Present day organ trafficking positively involves unreasonable and inadmissible levels of harm. In any

October 2011 marks the first proven case of black market organ trafficking in the United States. Levy Izhak, a New Yorker, pled guilty in federal court for illegally expediting kidney transplants. His lawyer claimed, “the transplants were successful and the donors and recipients are now leading full and healthy lives” because of the organ donation and receiving the transplant. Contradicting this principle is that the transaction of blood, semen and ovarian eggs are legal however it is illegal to sell organs in the United States.

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.