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Organ donations go back as far as 1954, when a kidney was successfully transplanted from one healthy body to a diseased one. Today, most parts such as skin, cartilage, lungs, intestines, corneas, nerves, bones, and skin are being used. Unfortunately, as of 2005 over 89,790 were on a waiting list for an organ donor with over 12,700 people waiting as long as five years to get a suitable organ from someone who has died naturally or after brain death. Five years ago, 17 people died a day because they could not get an organ donor even though 70 people were receiving one.

Exploitation of the poor for organ donor

Natural death can only donate things like cornea, bone, skin or blood vessels while a brain death can donate approximately 37 organs and tissues, such as kidneys, heart, liver and lungs. But while alive, it has been published in the Journal of American Medical Association on Economic and Health, "Consequences of Selling a Kidney in India", over 300 (96% of participants in the study) sold their kidneys for $1,070 to pay off debts.

Studies have shown that poverty in any country is excellent breeding grounds for organ transplantation exploitation, similar to prostitution, human trafficking and child labor, with donors more apt to develop ill-health. About 86% of these participants developed a serious deterioration in their health status as compared to those who donated with altruism motives.  The value of a person who sells organs for monetary payment for body parts becomes slowly degraded and dangerous for the donor's health and mental state.

Recently, India physicians and policy makers are setting up some form of safety valve to protect themselves from the brokers and middle men, re-examining the value of using "financial incentives" in order to increase their supply of transplantation organs.  These financial incentives have lead to further exploitation of the poor, allowing the transplant brokers to thrive.

Organ Donation and Identity Theft

To identity individuals as an organ donor, most states sign them up when applying for a driver's license. But on July 14, 2008, this act compromised 55,000 people when a data breach occurred at the Organ and Tissue Donor Registry. This situation has caused these organ donors on their driver's license to be a victim of identity theft.

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) administers the National Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network along with the US. Department of Health and Human Services. The UNOS organization include "every" transplant program, tissue typing laboratory in the US, and organ procurement organization. When a donor is identified, their specific transplant center will contact the Organ Center to give needed donor information --- medical urgency, genetic compatibility, and logistics --- before the organ is removed, preserved and transported to the recipient.

In 1984, the US government had passed the National Organ Transplant Act which outlaws the buying and selling of human organs. It is considered a criminal offense that is punishable by either fine or imprisonment. It has also created a network that is so tightly controlled that it is illegal to retrieve or transplant any organs outside of this system.

The UNOS Scientific Registry is a collection of all data of all organ transplants that have occurred in the US since October 1, 1987: kidneys; hearts; lungs; heart-lung; pancreas; and liver transplants. Donor info involves their treatments, clinical and sociodemographic factors; patient/graft outcome; age; race; sex; and ABO blood group.

RESOURCES

Organ Commerce – Issues, Challenges and Ethics in Organ Transplantation

Organ Donation

Cadaver Organ Donation in India

The Need for Organ Donation