There seems to be good evidence that kidneys for transplantation are bought and sold in some parts of the world. However I'm not aware of any good data on how much of this trade involves people from wealthy countries, as opposed to internal commerce in less well resourced countries.
Here's a scare headline from the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail:
REVEALED: Hundreds of Britons who buy KIDNEYS on the black market from overseas traffickers charging £30,000 in a bid to avoid NHS waiting lists are coming back with deadly diseases such as HIV and hepatitis
It turns out that the "hundreds" in the National Health Service data are 400, over a period of 16 years, which averages out to 25 Britons a year.
"Around three million Britons have chronic kidney disease, with the biggest causes uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure. It contributes to 45,000 early deaths every year.
NHS figures show almost 400 UK residents have received follow-up support after a transplant abroad over the past 16 years. But medics say the true number is likely to be higher because most are advised by brokers not to tell the NHS what they have done."
I don't know what kinds of health data the NHS collect, but in principle it would be easy to track all patients who return to the UK with a transplant from overseas, because such patients immediately need to get prescriptions for daily immunosuppressive drugs. (However I don't think we track these data in a centralized way in the U.S.)
HT Frank McCormick
***********
Here some of what I've gleaned in the past:
Here's a scare headline from the British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mail:
REVEALED: Hundreds of Britons who buy KIDNEYS on the black market from overseas traffickers charging £30,000 in a bid to avoid NHS waiting lists are coming back with deadly diseases such as HIV and hepatitis
It turns out that the "hundreds" in the National Health Service data are 400, over a period of 16 years, which averages out to 25 Britons a year.
"Around three million Britons have chronic kidney disease, with the biggest causes uncontrolled diabetes and high blood pressure. It contributes to 45,000 early deaths every year.
NHS figures show almost 400 UK residents have received follow-up support after a transplant abroad over the past 16 years. But medics say the true number is likely to be higher because most are advised by brokers not to tell the NHS what they have done."
I don't know what kinds of health data the NHS collect, but in principle it would be easy to track all patients who return to the UK with a transplant from overseas, because such patients immediately need to get prescriptions for daily immunosuppressive drugs. (However I don't think we track these data in a centralized way in the U.S.)
HT Frank McCormick
***********
Here some of what I've gleaned in the past:
Monday, December 17, 2018
Australia's parliament reports on organ trafficking
Australia's parliament has published a report on organ trafficking in Australia. They didn't find much trafficking there, but recommend that data be more vigorously collected. They report that only one case of (attempted) paid organ donation has come to the attention of the authorities, but that it was successfully prevented, and the intended recipient died. The report ends with a case study of an anatomical exhibit using human cadavers.
Wednesday, October 4, 2017
Kidney black markets are persistent
Black markets in kidneys--like those for narcotic drugs--have resisted attempts to abolish them.
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Yemenis selling kidneys in Egypt: Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera has the (nuanced) story:
Desperate Yemenis sell organs to survive
Desperate Yemenis sell organs to survive
Sunday, January 15, 2017
Black markets for kidney transplants--arrests in Israel
A late December story of black markets and law enforcement from the Times of Israel:
2 charged with running international organ traffic ring. Patients allegedly paid $180,000 for a kidney; illegal transplants carried out in Turkey, Bulgaria, Thailand, Philippines
2 charged with running international organ traffic ring. Patients allegedly paid $180,000 for a kidney; illegal transplants carried out in Turkey, Bulgaria, Thailand, Philippines
"In the last two years, the ring reportedly arranged for 14 transplants in four countries; Turkey, Bulgaria, Thailand and Philippines"
Saturday, October 8, 2016
Friday, August 19, 2016
Interview with a kidney buyer and seller in Syria
Here's an interview with a displaced person in Syria (an internal refugee) and the Syrian woman to whom he sold his kidney:
The woman in need of a kidney and the man willing to sell one to her: ‘I’m at the end of the line’
The woman in need of a kidney and the man willing to sell one to her: ‘I’m at the end of the line’
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
On Patients Who Purchase Organ Transplants Abroad--Many or few?
An article in the American Journal of Transplantation:
On Patients Who Purchase Organ Transplants Abroad
by F. Ambagtsheer,*, J. de Jong,W. M. Bramer and W. Weimar
On Patients Who Purchase Organ Transplants Abroad
by F. Ambagtsheer,*, J. de Jong,W. M. Bramer and W. Weimar
"We conclude that the scientific literature does not reflect a large number of patients buying organs. Organ purchases were more often assumed than determined. A reporting code for transplant professionals to report organ trafficking networks is a potential strategy to collect and quantify cases."
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