Kidney black markets are persistent

Black markets in kidneys--like those for narcotic drugs--have resisted attempts to abolish them.

Here are two recent articles that explore some of the ways that they persist despite vigorous attempts to defeat them.

From the Hindustan Times:
Kidney racket: All about the scam busted at Delhi’s Batra hospital
From changing name, getting fake accent and Aadhar card, doctoring photos in family albums, the racketeers worked to a well thought out plan to pass off the kidney seller as a family member


From The Costa Rica Star:
Is Costa Rica at the Epicenter of a Global Black Market in Human Organs?
"Costa Rican doctors who have been charged with selling kidneys on the global black market appear to have received payments of up to $140,000 per procedure – some of which went to the doctors, some for hospital expenses, and some to Costa Rican “donors.”
...
"In February 2016, Costa Rican authorities brought formal charges against the doctors who participated in the organ transplant surgeries, and two others who aided in recruiting and paying low-income Costa Ricans to donate their kidneys.

Mora Palma has been charged with 14 counts of human trafficking (for harvesting organs from 14 individuals) and 16 counts of embezzlement for using public health system equipment and facilities for the procedures.

One of Mora Palma’s alleged victims, a Costan Rican National Police officer, Maureen Cordero Solano, apparently received 6 million colones (around $10,400) for one of her kidneys. She then is thought to have aided the doctors in recruiting others, receiving $1,000 for each donor she successfully brought in.

The other doctors were all Costa Ricans: Maximiliano Mauro Stamati and Fabián Fonseca Guzman (urologists), and Victor Hugo Monge (peripheral vascular specialist).

The operation was also aided by a Greek businessman, Dimosthenis Katsigiannis Karkasi, who would talk to Solano’s recruits further about donating a kidney. Donors were offered  up to 10,000,000 colones (around $17,400). It is illegal in Costa Rica, as in most countries, to pay people for donating a vital organ"