One of the issues with organ donations is human exploitation. Exploitation is when paying less than the value of a good or service, exactually how can the price of a kidney be put into the “fair market value” when National Organ Transplant Act prohibits any buying and/or selling of human organs for transplanting the selling and buying of an organ is usually taken to developing countries such as Pakistan and the Philippines even though it is technically against the law. The legalization of selling organs will increase; exploitation of the poor, increasing crime rates and human trafficking would continue to increase.
Exploiting humans that are living in poverty by buying their organs seems to be a way to help meet the demands for organs. Meeting the high demand of organ/s has become a problem throughout the world of medicine, (Held, McCormick, Chertow, Peters, & Roberts, 2018). This has given birth to the illegal market of kidney and organ sales or trafficking. Human organ sales have become a trade in countries with severe poverty such as India: the black-market of organs is being handled illegally by “brokers” who arrange the sale and acts as the go between for the recipient, the seller “donor” and the physicians (Meckler, 2007). Exploiting humans for any reason is a evil act of criminal behavior that focuses on oneself, believing purchasing someone’s vital organ without concern for the donor is definitely a criminal act and should be punished.
Presented with the opportunity to help poverty-stricken people out of kindness, and because its hurtful to see people starve is a wonderful thing, buying their kidney does not help a poverty-stricken family self-sufficient . People who sell their kidneys do so because they have families to feed choosing to sell your kidney or watch your children starve (Bakdash, & Scheper-Hughes, 2006). Nevertheless, selling a kidney to feed your family, or perhaps moving them from the poverty, with hopes of making a better life for them all, may not sound like a bad idea to someone in this situation. There really are life or death situations in this industry of selling kidneys when this may be the only opportunity a person has. In other parts of the world such as West Bengal (a state inside West India), Mrs. Rita Sarkar, a young woman aged 28 was taken to the hospital by her husband because she was experiencing abdominal pain. (Doshi & Schmidt, 2018).
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The medical staff had informed her she needed surgery to have her appendix removed and scheduled her for an appendectomy the next day (Doshi & Schmidt, 2018). Sarkar, continued experiencing pain and found she had pain from her side which was not there before; her husband refused to let her see a doctor; after several months her father’s family slipped her away from her husband and to a different hospital who informed her that her kidney was gone (Doshi & Schmidt, 2018). Allowing the sale of organs would create criminals and cause the exploitation of innocent people. Therefore, the selling of human organs with or without permission of the donor is wrong and should be criminal comportment against all humanity, as well as unethical.
People of all ages and backgrounds can find themselves in need of an organ transplant, but in organ trafficking the only people who will be able to “buy” the needed organ are the rich and therefore the only ones selling is the poor. Sarkar, found herself in this situation because her husband felt her family had money and he wanted it, Sarkar’s father told the Washington Post that Mr., Sarkar would say things like “…your father has so many cars, he’s sitting there with so much wealth, look at us, we have nothing,’” (Doshi & Schmidt, 2018, para 10). This case involves greed, but if organ trafficking was illegal then Sarkar, would still have her kidney.
Increasing human traffickers, if organ selling became legal than criminals would begin trafficking humans for organs. Usually in small village’s there are countless people who have resort to selling their organ in order to survive; unfortunately, they did not receive the proper medical attention after the surgery and died (Bain, Mari, J., & Delmonico, 2018). Those who acts as organ brokers are making their profits in the shadows, leaving behind destructive medical footprints, leaving those who are vulnerable “poverty-stricken donors” and first world buyers “recipients” open to severe lifetime of health consequences (Bain, et al , 2018 para 2). People never consider the negative impact which many times, the donors themselves will have to live with due to the organ being removed.
In rural Nepal, Al Jazeera English (2016): many people who live in this village are very poor, and has sold their kidneys, many who are suffering the consequences of doing so with poor health and the inability to work. Many of the men are facing health issues now and have no means to receive medical attention. Many of these villagers had no idea of what a kidney was and was under the impression they would be compensated well for what they were doing, it seems the only one who really made a profit was the broker giving the donors very little compared to what she charged, (Al Jazeera English, 2016). Exploiting, people for their body organs, and then to forget about them is very much a criminal act, and unethical.
Trafficking of organs should be outlawed in every corner of the earth. There truly are countless stories about how wealthy people exploit other people without care or concern, after they get the organ they need; they continue their own life’s and never think about the person that saved their life. In India, and so many other countries, the illegal trafficking of organ sales is extremely high, and there is so much poverty in these developing countries, these poverty stricken people jump at the opportunity to sell their organ to help support their families “Organ Donations Increase, “(2006).
Allowing someone to place a price on a human life, has been outlawed for centuries, one person’s life is not more important than anyone else’s. From a Christian’s point of view; we are told in Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ.(ESV). The selling of human organ/s is and should always be an illegal act; and should be considered criminal behavior, in the eyes of the law and the eyes of our Creator.
Fortunately, most countries do not permit the selling of organs and the organ trade market is frowned upon; unfortunately, the poor in underdeveloped countries are still being exploited, and with this there will be criminals who ruthlessly will devour the poor to make a quick buck. Perhaps, if the world’s governments joined task forces; to work harder at finding these perpetrators; removing the license from doctors participating in illegal transplants, as well as prosecuting them; the victimization would stop. Exploiting poor people for gain is totally unexceptional behavior in both morally, ethically and is a sin against humanity. There are other ways to help those in need; just as there are certain protocols in obtaining organs for transplanting.
Removing laws to protect these people or not placing laws to prevent anyone from soliciting organs on the black market, these type of sad horrific inhuman practices will continue; and allowing the trafficking of human organ/s to be sold would cause so much havoc in the world of medicine, and people would be butchered for their organs, all over the world; those who are willfully selling them and those who have no intention of selling any of their organs, such as the story about Sarkar. The human trafficking must be stopped. Certainly when faced with the need of a vital organ, especially if that person is a child, a person would pay anything and even participate in the act of illegally purchasing an organ from a poverty stricken person, finding the right way to obtain the needed organ through the proper medical protocols would always be the best option and choice.
References
- Al Jazeera English. (2016, September 7). Asia’s Kidney Black Market/ 101 East. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6yRKosE2MI&t=294s
- Bain, C., Mari, J., & Delmonico, F. L. (2018, July 31). Organ trafficking: The unseen form of human trafficking. Retrieved from https://www.acamstoday.org/organ-trafficking-the-unseen-form-of-human-trafficking/
- Bakdash, T., & Scheper-Hughes, N. (2006). Is it ethical for patients with renal disease to purchase kidneys from the world’s poor? PLoS Medicine, 3(10), 1699+. Retrieved from https://link-gale-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/A154334630/OVIC?u=canyonuniv&sid=OVIC&xid=4b12325b
- Doshi, V., & Schmidt, S. (2018). Indian man arrested after allegedly selling wife’s kidney, which she didn’t even know was gone. Washingtonpost.Com. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/08/husband-charged-with-selling-wifes-kidney-which-she-didnt-even-know-was-gone
- Held, P. J., McCormick, F., Chertow, G. M., Peters, T. G., & Roberts, J. P. (2018). Would government compensation of living kidney donors exploit the poor? An empirical analysis. PLoS ONE, 13(11), e0205655. Retrieved from https://link-gale-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/A563638809/OVIC?u=canyonuniv&sid=OVIC&xid=2fb52a44
- Meckler, L. (2007, Nov 13). Medical marketplace: Kidney shortage inspires A radical idea: Organ sales; as waiting list grows, some seek to lift ban; exploiting the poor? Wall Street Journal Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/docview/399092881?accountid=7374
- Organ Donations Increase When Families Have Good Information About the Donation Process.
- (2006). In K. L. Lerner & B. W. Lerner (Eds.), Medicine, Health, and Bioethics: Essential Primary Sources (pp. 472-474). Detroit, MI: Gale. Retrieved from https://link-gale-com.lopes.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/CX3456500175/OVIC?u=canyonuniv&sid=OVIC&xid=334cf459
