The Illegal Sale of Body Organs: Causes and Consequences
Causes
The population is increasing in the world every day, and so are diseases that affect humankind. While there have been significant gains in technology, researchers are yet to come up with a way of creating organs. There have been several proposals and hypotheses, but the ethics line of thought has always defeated all. Therefore, whenever patients have had diseases that have led to any of the body organs to fail, the option has always been to wait and die or have a relative donate the organ or wait in a hospital list for your turn to receive organs that have been donated by well-wishers. In the United States (US), organ donation is regulated by the United Network for Organ Sharing which is a not for profit organization. Those patients who need the organs the most receive the organs regardless of position or wealth. Sadly, the number of people in need of organs outnumber the number of organs. People have killed, stolen and oppressed others for a lot less and unimportant things like land and resources. Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising that the same people would do a lot more to stay alive. Besides, I main basic instinct is to survive. This basic instinct is what gave rise, the initial motivation that has given birth to the illegal sale of body organs. This article will examine the various causes that have led to this vice and what effects the wickedness has produced.
Illegality
There is a rampant sale of organs because buying and selling of body organs are illegal in many countries. The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) in America decrees that anybody who is found and convicted of buying and selling of human organs faces a 5-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $50,000. The reason why there is an illegal sale of organs is that several governments have chosen to make it illegal. Whether this is because of valid reasons or not doesn't matter since it forces those who want to engage in the trade to do so via unlawful ways. Supporters of organ sale have always rooted for the legalization of the trade as a way to curb the damages that come with the vice.
Their argument has been that legalization will ensure that strategies are in place to ensure that organs are harvested safely. Iran is an example of a country that has made legal the sale of organs. This step has seen to it that various pitfalls of the organ black-market have been avoided (Fatemi, 2011). However, there are people in an opposing camp whose argument is that legalization of organ sale will only lead to more exploitation of the poor through the commodification of organs. The demand for kidneys has especially gone up because of the increase in occurrences of non-communicable diseases. This increased coupled with poverty, and massive economic disparities will force the poor to sell their organs to make a dime. The rich, with available resources, will exploit the poor for their organs, and the trend will remain like that because there is no day that the poor can purchase organs from the rich. Despite the trade being illegal, many people from the lower social class are lining up to give up their organs in developing countries (Taylor, 2015).
Poverty
When the countries where organs are sold and the countries where organs originate from are considered, various conclusions can be drawn. According to studies, the majority of destinations of organs in the black market are the developed countries such as the US, Australia, United Kingdom and Canada while the source is usually from the developing countries (Malinowski, 2018).
This contrast between the buyers and sellers show that poverty is one of the motivations that lead to illegal organ sale. Poor people are often in debt up to their eyeballs, illiterate and desperate and the vice presents an opportunity for them to break free from chains of debt, or so they think. Unfortunately, because of their illiteracy, they are often conned entirely or receive a little amount for their organs at the hands of those who are in charge of brokering the deals between buyers and sellers. Women in Africa are especially vulnerable to exploitation by organ black market dealers because of the role they play in the family of providing for the family and covering the inequities of the husband. As a result, many are too willing to sell their organs for a promise of a better life. In Iraq, donation of organs to relatives is allowed, but the sale of organs is illegal. Criminal gangs have however found ways of selling organs and most of those willing to sell their organs are those in poverty (Kar and Spanjers, 2017).
Poverty goes hand in hand with greed in the case of illicit organ trade because, in these developing countries, the covert and highly organized operations that are required in the successful trafficking of the organs is not carried out by the poor. It is the rich who do this, and it is them who benefit the most, and greed drives all this. Therefore beating poverty is one way by which this vice can be stopped. If people are economically sufficient then very few will be willing to partake in the business.
Technology
There have been a lot of technological advancement from the telecommunication sector to the healthcare sector and also in the transport sector. These advancements have brought with them many benefits to humankind. Today, you can have breakfast in France and have dinner in Dubai or have a conference with people from different parts of the world virtually. Today you can get a kidney from a brother or a sister when yours has failed. Today you can do business with people you have never even met and get that money without problems. These benefits, however, come with problems. It's always said that wherever good things go, bad things follow. The same technology that is enabling life to be easy is making the lives of thugs who partake in organ black-market easy.
With the increase in successful surgeries, there has been a demand for organs for transplant. This demand coupled with the ease of money transfers has led to the illegal sale of organs. Today, people as even brave enough to advertise available organs in the craigslist because technology has made it possible for people to hide behind avatars. Those carrying out the trade can hide in plain sight behind anonymous profiles, do their business and get paid. In the past, organs needed to be harvested and transplanted as soon as possible but today technology has made it possible to preserve the 'aliveness' of body organs for longer. As such, losses incurred during transportation of organs that were faced previously are now a thing of the past, and this has fuelled the trade (Svenaeus, 2015).
Consequences/Effects
Poor Health Among Recipients and Donors
Concerning health, both the buyers and those who sell their organs suffer. This is ironic because the main aim of engaging in the illegal trade is usually to attain good health. Unfortunately, as shown in research, people who undergo surgeries to receive organs procured in the illegal market fair worse than those who obtain organs through the legal channels. Studies have shown that recipients of organs obtained from the black market have higher chances of contracting communicable diseases such as HIV or hepatitis B (Inston et al., 2005). Also, studies have also shown that there are lower survival rates in individuals receiving organs procured through the black market. The reason for the poor survival rates can be attributed to the poor expertise of the doctors who carry out such illegal surgeries. Also, because of the covert nature of the whole business, it becomes difficult to carry out the required tests that ascertain whether the organ is a match for the recipient and if the organs are free from any transmissible diseases. Studies have also shown that in the UK, patients who had been removed from the organ recipient list had received organs abroad which is an indicator of substandard medical practice (Inston et al., 2005). The donors also suffer poor health because they hardly access post-surgery care because of the illegality of the surgeries in the first place and the result is that their health deteriorates and many die in the process (Kucuk et al., 2005).
Poverty
Another ironic fact is that while those who engage in the illicit trade are promised instant wealth, they often find themselves in the same situation or even worse. The full proceeds from the sale of the organs do not usually get to those who had their organs removed. Brokers often take a more significant share of the money, and the donors are left with a smaller amount. These donors then proceed to use the funds in post-surgery care and end up spending all of it if not more. As a result, they plunge deeper into poverty and debt.
Increase in Human Trafficking
The booming organ sale business has had an impact on the cases of human trafficking. Vulnerable populations are tricked and forced into being transported to different countries where their capturers harvest their organs for the black market. In India, the government banned commercial transplants. However, reports indicate that human rights abuse of human trafficking continues especially in service to foreign patients (Budiani-Saberi et al., 2014).
Reduced Donated Organs
Some states have developed a system where civilians can agree to have their organs donated in the event of fatal accidents. This program is meant to increase the number of donated organs and thus reduce the waiting time of the people in an organ transplant list. However, with the availability of illegal organs in the black market, such programs cannot survive. Eventually, it becomes evident that people will no longer be ready to donate their organs for free when their families can fetch good money from the illicit trade.
References
Budiani-Saberi, D. A., Raja, K. R., Findley, K. C., Kerketta, P., " Anand, V. (2014). Human trafficking for organ removal in India: a victim-centered, evidence-based report. Transplantation, 97(4), 380-384.
Fatemi, F. (2011, August). The regulated market for kidneys in Iran. In International Conference on Auctions, Market Mechanisms and Their Applications (pp. 62-75). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Inston, N. G., Gill, D., Al-Hakim, A., " Ready, A. R. (2005, March). Living paid organ transplantation results in unacceptably high recipient morbidity and mortality. In Transplantation Proceedings (Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 560-562). Elsevier.
Kar, D., " Spanjers, J. (2017). Transnational crime and the developing world.
Kucuk, M., Sever, M. S., Turkmen, A., Sahin, S., Kazancioglu, R., Ozturk, S., " Eldegez, U. (2005, March). Demographic analysis and outcome features in a transplant outpatient clinic. In Transplantation proceedings (Vol. 37, No. 2, pp. 743-746). Elsevier.
Malinowski, R. (2018). Family in Africa–(Not) a Safe Haven from Human Trafficking. Roczniki Teologiczne, 64(10), 205-214.
Svenaeus, F. (2015). The lived body and personal identity: The ontology of exiled body parts. In Bodily Exchanges, Bioethics and Border Crossing (pp. 31-46). Routledge.
Taylor, J. S. (2015). Moral repugnance, moral distress, and organ sales. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 40(3), 312-327.
