The Organ Trade..

Giving credit to an article on Bloomberg that I read {Read it Here} this morning, many Americans who are desperate for a Kidney translate here in the states {and on the waiting list} go elsewhere in order to “Buy Kidney’s”!

 I choose this article to highlight because I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that we {Americans} reach out to others who are “Desperate/Poor” in order to save their own life. Are we that SELFISH?

According to the article {By Michael Smith} “Affluent, often desperately ill patients travel to countries such as Egypt, Peru and the Philippines, where poor people sell them their organs. In Latin America, the transplants are usually arranged by unlicensed brokers {are you kidding me?}. They’re performed -- for fees -- by accredited surgeons, some of whom have trained at the world’s leading medical schools. The global demand for organs far exceeds the available supply. In the U.S., 110,693 people are on waiting lists for organs, and fewer than 15,000 donors are found annually. Every year, about 5,000 gravely ill people from countries including the U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia pay others to donate an organ, says Francis Delmonico, a Harvard Medical School professor and surgeon. The practice is illegal in every country except Iran, {Surprised? They never comply!} Delmonico says.

“The problem is that you have so many people who are desperate for a transplant and willing to pay for one and so many poor people who need the money and can be exploited,” he says. Americans who go abroad for illicit transplants can contract infections or HIV from unhealthy donors, posing a public health threat when they return, Delmonico says.”

This is obviously a very serious problem, though it still continues. Apparently there is even a market and companies that support it. According to a report by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Ltd. “The illegal organ trade is the ugly side of the otherwise legal medical tourism industry, in which people travel to other countries for cut-rate hip replacements, tummy tucks and gastric bypasses. The legitimate medical procedures generated about $100 billion in revenue in 2010.”

And really what makes it worse is I was unsuccessful at locating an organization that was dedicated to stopping Organ Trafficking. I did find www.HumanTrafficking.org though there wasn’t anything specific on the Organ Trade!  If you are apart of an organization or know of one, please leave a comment.

Lucy