Trade in Human Organs - Essay Example

Name Unit Title Introduction Organ trade is referred to as a business where human organs are exchanged for money. Globally, there have been shortages in the number of the donors as most of people waiting for the organ transplant increases. The shortage in the organs has led to people dying every day in most countries. This has also led to an increase in the black market organ trade. This is due to the restrictions that have been set by many governments restricting organ trade. Some of the organs that are needed for transplantation can only be available through the death of donor. These are organs like heart, while others like kidney can be donated by a living person. The pressure from those waiting for the transplants has led to thriving of the black market. This is a market in which the organ dealers trick their victims of cash reward from the wealthy patients. The market has three main categories. The victim is first tricked into giving an organ; they are then not paid the full amount agreed for the transplant. The last step involves taking the organ by force from the victim. The main drive for the donors to sell their parts through black market is poverty. The poor organs dealers are tricked into selling their organs so that they can get out of poverty. This does not happen in most instances as the poor donors are tricked and the traders gets all the money out of the trade (Wilkinson, 2003). This essay will prove that organ trade exploits the poverty of the people willing to sell their organs for money. For the wealthy people, waiting for a transplant leads to them turning into the black market. The black market has been thriving with the sales of the organs for a long time. The poor organ dealers are connected to the wealthy recipients by the middlemen. This involves mostly the donors from the poor country where there are few or no restrictions on organ trade. The donor is promised to get a huge reward that would enable them to move out of poverty (Hoyer, 2006). Most of the donors cannot afford the basic necessities in life and have no hope of gaining any meaningful source of income. For them, the market seems to be the only alternative for survival. The arrangements made by the middlemen are exploitive and leads to the exploitation of the donor predicament. One of the negative impacts of the globalization is the organ trade. The bodies of the human being become the commodity for business. They are used to reflect on the wealth or poverty of a person. Organ trade started gaining negative statements in the 1985 when the World Medical Association gave the principles which forbid the trade. Despite these negative sentiments, the organs black market has been thriving with profits ever rising. Research has proved that more than 10 percent of the transplants done involves black market where the donor is conned. The amount of the money that the donor is paid is far much less than what the dealers get. According to data gathered, a donor gets around 1,000-3000 dollars for a kidney while the trader cash the organ for 40,000 dollars (Wilkinson, 2003). Thos shows a huge discrepancy between the money received by the donor and the trader shows a high level of exploitation for the poor. In some countries, there have been organ market gangs that have been coercing the poor to sell their organs. This is done though advertisement in which the thugs offers easy money to the donors from poor countries. This tom many of the poor people sees it as a chance to get out of poverty. The donors are then lured into kidnapping. This leads to the donors being held against their will and their organs removed. This is a business that involves fear and coercion for the donors. The victims are threatened on their lifes and that of their family leading to them donating the organ against their will (Hoyer, 2006). Organ trade is a risky business for the donors and recipients. The black market middle men liaise with the private doctors who perform the surgery for a fee. It have been predicted that more than 5,000 people globally sells their organs for money. This means that the contracted doctors are not adequately equipped to perform the required tests before the transplant. The living donor is done a transplant without the set medical procedures being followed. There are several tests that are required to be run before the transplant is conducted. The donor must also be aware of the risks that they are putting themselves in before consenting (Wilkinson, 2003). This rarely happens in the black market where the donor is mostly coerced into giving the organ. The donor may be infected by the transplant due to poor surgical methods. The organ may also not be suitable for the recipient making it a double loss. In some countries where the economy is market driven, the health care system have been fueled by organ trade. There are competitions for the organs between the public and private health sectors. This has made the private health care to be more aggressive in looking for the organs and charges more making high profits. Though the organs can be obtained legally, there are very few donors in most countries. This leads to a case where the illegal organ trade is boosted. The hospitals links with the criminals who supply them with the organs which leads to money flow into the economy (Wilkinson, 2003). This type of trade benefits a few as the organ traders and the wealthy recipients’ are the only beneficiaries. The poor donors are left exploited and in more problems due to poor surgery. In china, the law allows organ transplantation from the prisoners. The organ from the executed prisoners is used in the hospitals for the wealthy recipients. The country health care system is market driven and is under pressure to make more income. This leads to a case where ethics are not followed in executing such practices as organ trade. This shows a system which exploits the donors due to economic benefits (Watts, 2007). The organ trade is an example of flow of organs from the poor and marginalized societies into the privileged individuals in the society. A wealthy foreigner has the cash to travel into another country to get transplant. Most of these countries are emerging economies where the have a market driven economy. The locals in the country may not be in a position to afford the transplant making them to die in the waiting list. This shows that the poor have little chances in getting the transplants in the market driven economies. The foreigner can even pay the double amount of cash that the local can pay for the transplant. The inequality between the rich and poor is fuelled by the competitive economy where the society is more inclined to money making and offers less support to the poor. This is an example of exploitation of the poor by the rich due to globalization (Wilkinson, 2003). This is due to fact that the poor should be given equal chances of getting a transplant as the poor. The organ donors have fewer asses to the medical care after extraction through organ trade. The medical care should be provided after the extraction of the organ to ensure that there is prevention of other complications that are related to surgery. The donors in these cases end up disabled or dead as the money they are tricked with cannot afford medical care. The immunopressant therapy offered after the surgery is costly and only the wealthy donors can afford it. The costs for the drugs are beyond the poor donors reach and hence they have to discontinue their use (Cohen, 2003). Donating an organ for the poor is thus a cause of disability or poor health while the recipient who is in most cases wealthy benefits from them. From the research, the market price of the organs evens the fair ones are exploitation for the poor. This is due to fact that the process leads to the donor becoming bankrupt after the costs of post surgery rises. This is a situation where the poor are exploitation due to their desperation. The newspaper and social media advertisements shows the desperation in which the sellers are in. the situation have also led to thriving gangs which can kidnap and remove the body parts of the individual. The donors are disabled as they have to live in a worse life than they had and also risks death. Some of the donors cannot participate in any economic activity due to infections caused. This shows how exploitation of the poor helps the organ trade (Hoyer, 2006). In conclusion, organ trade is an exploitation of the poor for the benefits of the organ recipients. This is proved by the way in which the black market organ trade has thrived. The trade has become involved in acts of kidnapping and stealing the organs from their victims. In black market, organ extraction is done without appropriate care for the donor. The surgery leads to health complications or death for the poor donors who cannot afford post surgery medical care. In market driven economies, cases of illegal organ trade, have been on increase to sustain the medical care which is set in making the profit. Most of the donors in the organ trade are poor and are driven by the desperation to gain easy money. The trickery and risks that are involved in the trade makes the poor to be at a disadvantage. The main beneficiary from the trade is the middle man and the recipient leaving the poor exploited and helpless. It’s evident that organ trade involves exploiting the poverty of the people willing to sell their organs for money. References Cohen, L. (2003). Where it Hurts: Indian Material for an Ethics of Organ Transplantation. Zygon, 38(3), 663-688. Hoyer, P. (2006). Commercial Living Non-Related Organ Transplantation: A Viewpoint From a Developed Country. Pediatric Nephrology 21 (1), 1364-1368. Watts, J. (2007). China Introduced New Rules to Deter Human Organ Trade. The Lancet, 369(9577), 1917-1919. Wilkinson, S. (2003). Bodies for Sale: Ethics and Exploitation in the Human Body Trade. London: Routledge. Read More