Legalize organ trafficking?
Organ transplantation: ethics or Economics?
Gudrun Heise, Ksenia Polska, Deutsche WelleThere is a catastrophic shortage of donor organs in the world.
Too often, the life of seriously ill people depends on the size of the wallet, and those who sell their organs do not know what awaits them.
In Germany, 12 thousand patients are waiting for their turn to transplant the donor organs they need. Every 8 hours someone dies without waiting, according to the German Organ Transplantation Foundation (Deutsche Stiftung Organtransplantation). On June 1, 2013, the German Organ Donation Day, which is usually celebrated on the first Saturday of June, this topic is being discussed especially violently. After the scandal with the falsification of lists of waiting organ transplants in one of the German clinics, the trust of citizens was undermined, and the number of posthumous organ donations fell to the lowest level in the last 10 years, the dpa news agency reports.
Nevertheless, according to the Forsa Institute for Public Opinion Research, today every fifth adult in Germany already has an "organ donor certificate" – a document confirming the willingness of its owner to donate his organs after death. 88 percent of respondents believe that the procedure related to the transfer of organs should become more transparent. The very doctors who forged the medical records of the most solvent patients in order to transplant their organs out of turn thoroughly warmed their hands due to the lack of proper control.
Sell a kidney to escape from slaveryWhere there is a certain shortage, illegal trade flourishes – according to this principle, the global "black market" of organs has also been formed.
For example, in India, a kidney can be purchased for 800 euros – this is the lowest price on the planet according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Criminal structures illegally sell up to 20 thousand kidneys a year at a price of up to 30 thousand euros.
Veer is 13 years old, he lives in a village three hours away from Delhi. Relatives sold the boy to a textile factory for about 38 euros. Now he rivets fake bags with logos of world fashion houses – 200 pieces a day, so as not to anger his owner. And dreams of getting rich. "When I grow up, I'll sell my kidney and I won't have to work here anymore," says Viru. His father, whom he had not seen for 4 years, did so. For Indian slums, 800 euros is a fortune.
Despite the fact that organ trafficking in India has recently been given 5 years in prison, this has not changed the situation in any way. It's a painfully profitable business, and the risk of being caught is small. The person selling his organs simply pretends to be a friend of the patient, donating an organ "from the heart", and the payment received by him is subsequently declared as a gift.
Human organs as an economic factorThe transfer of organs around the world follows a pattern: from the south to the north, from the east to the west, from poor regions to rich ones, from dark–skinned to light-skinned.
This was written in an article 10 years ago by American anthropologist Nancy Shepherd-Hughes from the organization Organs Watch in the specialized medical journal The Lancet. She called transplant tourism an economic factor for third world countries.
110 thousand organs were transplanted in the world in 2011. Of these, 76 thousand are kidneys, a doctor from the World Health Organization, Luke Noel, said in an interview with DW. Illegal transplantation is officially on the wane. "Since 2006, the number of illegal transfers has clearly decreased, as many countries have improved their laws," the expert explains. However, in Egypt and Pakistan, this market has gone underground. "According to our estimates, illegal organ transplants – for money or in places that are not officially provided for this, occur in ten percent of cases," says Luke Noel.
Moldovan authorities and Kazakh clinicsEven if such operations are one in ten, they bring billions to those who enjoy the hope of healing some and the hopelessness of the situation of others.
Here is a portrait of a typical organ recipient from the USA, Saudi Arabia, Australia or Israel, compiled by the organization Organs Watch. Age – 48 years, gender – male, annual income – 41 thousand euros. A typical donor is a resident of India, China, Moldova or Brazil, his age is 29 years old, gender is male, annual income is 370 euros.
Surgeons travel around the world and perform illegal organ transplants where it is not controlled. Even if, a few days after the transplant, a hospital somewhere in South Africa or Brazil comes across it, doctors simply move to another country. Clinics in Cyprus and Kazakhstan are now "popular".
Organ donation in Europe: should trade be legalized?The transfer of organs should take place voluntarily and free of charge, according to the 2010 resolution of the World Health Organization.
Three years earlier, 150 experts at the summit in Turkey signed the Istanbul Declaration on Transplant Tourism and Organ Trade. For violation of the law on transplantation, German legislation provides for imprisonment of up to five years – for both the donor and the recipient, even for operations performed abroad. "Transplantation is allowed if it takes place voluntarily, and its participants are related and/or emotionally connected to each other," the German Transplantation Foundation points out.
The donor organ bank used by Germany is the Eurotransplant foundation. At its headquarters in Leiden, the Netherlands, there is a file of recipients and waiting lists. After the tests, patients receive a place in the queue, depending on the urgency of the operation. As soon as the right organ appears, the computer selects the "addressee". Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Croatia and Slovenia are members of this fund. After all, the success of transplantation depends on the speed of delivery and the "assortment" that allows you to choose the most suitable organ for the patient.
Even if every resident of Germany receives a "donor certificate", there will still not be enough organs for everyone in need. Some people suggest legalizing organ trafficking. "The free market will create jobs and save lives," said economist Friedrich Breyer. The former chairman of the German Organ Transplantation Foundation Gunter Kirste (Gunter Kirste) objects. "Organ trafficking is the exploitation of the poor. In Pakistan and the Philippines, thousands of people who have sold their kidneys have a health condition close to critical," he emphasizes. 13–year-old Viru from India dreams that when he grows up, he will build a house with the proceeds from the kidney. He does not realize that he will not be able to live in this house for long.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru03.06.2013