Persuasive Essay On Organ Trafficking
Armando Fernandez
Professor A. Bond
PER 102
28 February 2015
Organ Trafficking In the United States, there are over one hundred twenty-three thousand people waiting to receive a life-saving organ donation, yet only about one out of every eight will ever receive that precious gift, and a second chance at life (optn.transplant.hrsa.gov) The demand for organ donation has consistently exceeded supply, and the gap between the number of recipients on the waiting list and the number of donors has increased by ninety-three percent since 1991 according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a result, some propose radical new ideas to meet the demands, including the legalization and sale of human organs. Financial compensation for …show more content…
organs, which is illegal in the United States, is considered repugnant to many. The solution to this ethical dilemma is not found in a wallet; there are other alternatives available to increase the number of donated organs which would be morally and ethically acceptable. In looking at this dilemma, one must maintain an open mind, and understand the underlined issue. The lack of regulation continues to perpetuate the problem of growing number of patients on the waiting list, and the increasing number of underprivileged societies being taken advantage of for the sale and harvest of organs. Almost every other country has prohibitions on the sale of organs like America 's.
In Iran, however, selling one 's kidney for profit is legal. There are no patients anguishing on the waiting list. The Iranians claim they have solved their kidney shortage by legalizing sales.
Many people will protest that an organ market will lead to exploitation and unfair advantages for the rich and powerful. But these are the same characteristics of the current illegal organ trade. Furthermore, as with drug prohibition today and alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, pushing a market underground is the way to make it predominant with violence and criminality.
In Japan, for the right price, you can buy organs harvested from executed Chinese prisoners. A few years ago in India, the authorities broke up an organ ring that had taken as many as 500 kidneys from poor laborers. The World Health Organization estimates that the black market accounts for 20 percent of kidney transplants worldwide. Everywhere from Latin America to the former Soviet Union, from the Philippines to South Africa, a huge network has developed characterized by threats, coercion, intimidation, extortion, and substandard …show more content…
surgeries.
There is almost no sure way of knowing if these substandard surgeries are effective, since most of the patients hide their illegal surgeries. The U.S. Department of Health and Human (HHS) services estimates that in 2013, 28,900 patients received legal organ transplants, and these transplants have an approximate 92% success rate. However subjective this success may be. It is estimated that patients that receive a kidney transplant from a live donor, have a 92% chance of surviving 5 years, and this survival rate diminishes based on the organ; for example, liver transplants have an 82% survival rate and heart transplants have a 77%.
It is also estimated that the number of patients on the waiting lists continue to grow exponentially, while the number of donors are perhaps decreasing. According to HHS, in 1991 there were just over 23,000 patients on the waiting list with almost 7,000 registered donors. In contrast in 2313, there were over 120,000 patients waiting for a donation, while only about 14,000 people were registered donors. This represents an increase of 93% patients, while the registered donor list has only doubled. This is an equivalent of 21 deaths per day, or 1.14 deaths every hour.
The question then remains, is it worth going thought the pain and danger of a surgery that may only buy the recipient a few extra years?
Keeping in mind that it is estimated that a kidney donor will be able to lead a full live with just one kidney, the amount of medication and money spent on medical and surgical procedures is so high, that most regular medical insurance policies issue a cap on the amount a patient may receive. In contrast, what about the transplant recipient? This person may, at best, be purchasing 5 extra years of life. The most essential case for legalizing organ sales, an appeal to civil liberty, has proven highly controversial. Liberals like to say, "My body, my choice," and conservatives claim to favor free markets, but true self-ownership would also include the right to sell one 's body parts, and genuine free enterprise would imply a market in human organs. In any event, studies show that this has become a matter of life and death.
Perhaps the key to progress is more extensive exposure to the facts. In 2008, six experts took on this issue in a debate hosted by National Public Radio. By the end, those in the audience who favored legalizing the market climbed from 44 to 60
percent.
Yet, the organ trade continues to operate in the shadows and questionable activities occur in the medical establishment under the color of law. Even today, doctors sometimes legally harvest organ tissue from dead patients without consent. In the meantime, thousands are perishing and even more are suffering while we wait for the system to change.
The truly decent route would be to allow people to withhold or give their organs freely, especially upon death, even if in exchange for money. Thousands of lives would be saved. Once again, humanitarianism is best served by the respect for civil liberty, and yet we are deprived both, with horribly unfortunate consequences, just to maintain the pretense of state-enforced propriety.
Works Cited
Gregory, Anthony. "The Selling of Organs Should be Legalized." Organ Donation. Ed. Laura Egendorf. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Why Legalizing Organ Sales Would Help to Save Lives, End Violence." The Atlantic (9 Nov. 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2015.
"Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network." Data. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. <http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/>.
Smith, Michael, David Glovin, and Daryna Krasnolutska. "Organ Gangs Force Poor to Sell Kidneys for Desperate Israelis." Bloomberg Markets Magazine (1 Nov. 2011). Rpt. in Is Selling Body Parts Ethical?Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2015.
"Why Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation?" Organdonor.gov | Welcome to Organdonor.gov. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. http://organdonor.gov/index.html>.http://organdonor.gov/index.html
Professor A. Bond
PER 102
28 February 2015
Organ Trafficking In the United States, there are over one hundred twenty-three thousand people waiting to receive a life-saving organ donation, yet only about one out of every eight will ever receive that precious gift, and a second chance at life (optn.transplant.hrsa.gov) The demand for organ donation has consistently exceeded supply, and the gap between the number of recipients on the waiting list and the number of donors has increased by ninety-three percent since 1991 according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a result, some propose radical new ideas to meet the demands, including the legalization and sale of human organs. Financial compensation for …show more content…
organs, which is illegal in the United States, is considered repugnant to many. The solution to this ethical dilemma is not found in a wallet; there are other alternatives available to increase the number of donated organs which would be morally and ethically acceptable. In looking at this dilemma, one must maintain an open mind, and understand the underlined issue. The lack of regulation continues to perpetuate the problem of growing number of patients on the waiting list, and the increasing number of underprivileged societies being taken advantage of for the sale and harvest of organs. Almost every other country has prohibitions on the sale of organs like America 's.
In Iran, however, selling one 's kidney for profit is legal. There are no patients anguishing on the waiting list. The Iranians claim they have solved their kidney shortage by legalizing sales.
Many people will protest that an organ market will lead to exploitation and unfair advantages for the rich and powerful. But these are the same characteristics of the current illegal organ trade. Furthermore, as with drug prohibition today and alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, pushing a market underground is the way to make it predominant with violence and criminality.
In Japan, for the right price, you can buy organs harvested from executed Chinese prisoners. A few years ago in India, the authorities broke up an organ ring that had taken as many as 500 kidneys from poor laborers. The World Health Organization estimates that the black market accounts for 20 percent of kidney transplants worldwide. Everywhere from Latin America to the former Soviet Union, from the Philippines to South Africa, a huge network has developed characterized by threats, coercion, intimidation, extortion, and substandard …show more content…
surgeries.
There is almost no sure way of knowing if these substandard surgeries are effective, since most of the patients hide their illegal surgeries. The U.S. Department of Health and Human (HHS) services estimates that in 2013, 28,900 patients received legal organ transplants, and these transplants have an approximate 92% success rate. However subjective this success may be. It is estimated that patients that receive a kidney transplant from a live donor, have a 92% chance of surviving 5 years, and this survival rate diminishes based on the organ; for example, liver transplants have an 82% survival rate and heart transplants have a 77%.
It is also estimated that the number of patients on the waiting lists continue to grow exponentially, while the number of donors are perhaps decreasing. According to HHS, in 1991 there were just over 23,000 patients on the waiting list with almost 7,000 registered donors. In contrast in 2313, there were over 120,000 patients waiting for a donation, while only about 14,000 people were registered donors. This represents an increase of 93% patients, while the registered donor list has only doubled. This is an equivalent of 21 deaths per day, or 1.14 deaths every hour.
The question then remains, is it worth going thought the pain and danger of a surgery that may only buy the recipient a few extra years?
Keeping in mind that it is estimated that a kidney donor will be able to lead a full live with just one kidney, the amount of medication and money spent on medical and surgical procedures is so high, that most regular medical insurance policies issue a cap on the amount a patient may receive. In contrast, what about the transplant recipient? This person may, at best, be purchasing 5 extra years of life. The most essential case for legalizing organ sales, an appeal to civil liberty, has proven highly controversial. Liberals like to say, "My body, my choice," and conservatives claim to favor free markets, but true self-ownership would also include the right to sell one 's body parts, and genuine free enterprise would imply a market in human organs. In any event, studies show that this has become a matter of life and death.
Perhaps the key to progress is more extensive exposure to the facts. In 2008, six experts took on this issue in a debate hosted by National Public Radio. By the end, those in the audience who favored legalizing the market climbed from 44 to 60
percent.
Yet, the organ trade continues to operate in the shadows and questionable activities occur in the medical establishment under the color of law. Even today, doctors sometimes legally harvest organ tissue from dead patients without consent. In the meantime, thousands are perishing and even more are suffering while we wait for the system to change.
The truly decent route would be to allow people to withhold or give their organs freely, especially upon death, even if in exchange for money. Thousands of lives would be saved. Once again, humanitarianism is best served by the respect for civil liberty, and yet we are deprived both, with horribly unfortunate consequences, just to maintain the pretense of state-enforced propriety.
Works Cited
Gregory, Anthony. "The Selling of Organs Should be Legalized." Organ Donation. Ed. Laura Egendorf. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Why Legalizing Organ Sales Would Help to Save Lives, End Violence." The Atlantic (9 Nov. 2011). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2015.
"Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network." Data. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. <http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/data/>.
Smith, Michael, David Glovin, and Daryna Krasnolutska. "Organ Gangs Force Poor to Sell Kidneys for Desperate Israelis." Bloomberg Markets Magazine (1 Nov. 2011). Rpt. in Is Selling Body Parts Ethical?Ed. Christine Watkins. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2015.
"Why Organ, Eye, and Tissue Donation?" Organdonor.gov | Welcome to Organdonor.gov. Web. 28 Feb. 2015. http://organdonor.gov/index.html>.http://organdonor.gov/index.html