The issue of organ trading is a highly controversial one and is yet still, very crucial with regards to the wellbeing of those in need of it. The US alone experiences 76,000 cases of patients in need of kidney transplants every year. Despite this figure, only 66,000 kidneys are available on the global market each year (Ireland, 2008). A question therefore arises, as to whether the sale and trade of kidneys is a necessity or not. Furthermore, the topic at hand provokes concerns of a deeply ethical nature as most of the issues of trade involve the poor and economically disadvantaged, and this sometimes, may dehumanize the trade. Traders of these organs have been known to sometimes engage in cruel activities in order to acquire them, mostly through the exploitation of poor people in developing countries. A number of these donors are trafficked and made to put up with the poor health conditions going by which the operations take place, most often leaving them in poor health, and with large incisions on their bodies (Wilkinson, 2011). For this reason, the issue of organ trading becomes a hotly debated one, seeing as either of the ends presents cases of the acute vulnerability of lives, of the donors and of the recipients as well. On one hand, there is the possibility of saving a life. Conversely and on the other hand, this same process endangers the life of the donor. The search for a permanent solution to this problem invokes a thought process towards providing solutions for either party through ethical means.
The Demand for Kidneys
In order to understand the need for the trade in kidneys, it is important to delve into the nature of kidney diseases. Kidney treatment requires the engagement of extremely expensive processes and equipment, which in turn, can only be operated by highly specialized practitioners. The availability of these equipment and of the associate skill sets is, however, not an issue in many Western countries (Charles 2011). Unfortunately, the need for transplants does increase with a deterioration of the health conditions of the involved patients. Therefore, this creates an extremely high demand for kidneys, whilst in due course, prioritizing the needs only of those patients that can afford them over those ones of the ones who cannot. This is most often unfortunate in cases whereby the families and friends of the patient are not matches for the donation. It is even worse when doctors could have saved the life of a patient by making the purchase but cannot because the organ is unavailable.
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The Problems on the Other End
Statistics show that 90 per cent of the people who donate kidneys are illiterate, with 98% of them suffering from poor health afterwards. Among these, the value is also alarmingly high of the individuals that do not give consent to the process (Ireland, 2008). The issue of organ trading, therefore, implies the putting of the lives of the donor community at very great risk. Philosophers and ethicists do not merely deny the process for its fundamental defiance of morals but also, for the fact that the process of the acquisition of kidneys sometimes has a dehumanizing side effect.
Firstly, the donors of these organs are normally poor and lack resources to hire lawyers to defend their interests in the course of the process. For this reason, they are easily manipulated out of their organs and as well, of the money earned from their sale (Charles 2011). In this case, is easy for any of the individuals claiming to deal in these organs to get away with them, but without having paid the donors. Moreover, cases of human trafficking have been on the rise, owing to the increased lucrativeness of the organ trade business. Enslaved human beings can easily be harvested of their organs and these sold for money that does not benefit them while they are left to die. Ethicists thus, suggest that trade of organs only be undertaken in the right conditions (Shaperman, 2009).
The other issue in trading organs is the fact that its intention to benefit donors does not hold. If at all the transaction is meant to benefit the patients by saving their lives and the poor by compensating them financially, then the deal should do just that. Unfortunately, the existence of trafficking and illegal acquisition of organs leaves the poor even poorer from the medical help they have to seek after the donation (Wilkinson, 2011).
Furthermore, the donors may not yet know if they are likely to suffer renal disease in the future. After all, statistics do show that most of these also end up with other problems arising from poor procedures (Shaperman, 2009). At the end of it all, illegal harvesting of organs leaves the donors worse off than they really were in the first place. In very many cases, donors are not provided with proper healthcare after the operation. Such care is necessary in avoiding infections and ought to be a part of the compensation process. The process can only be considered viable where the donors are treated with dignity and encouraged to make informed decisions on donation (Charles 2011). Donors ought to be encouraged to undertake proper tests to ensure that they can undertake the test at all. Many people have lost their lives from conditions arising from donations. It is right to say that the existence of quick cash for traders can easily motivate premeditated murder along with human trafficking.
Solutions to these Problems
World Health Organization Policies
The World Health Organization requires that these transactions be entered under transparent circumstances. The body intends to formulate conditions that will bind those seeking to purchase organs in contract. Unfortunately, even such stipulations cannot entirely do away with the issues of human trafficking and exploitation of the poor for their organs (Price, 2010). It would be naïve to imagine that a black market of organ trading will cease to exist simply because the WHO says so. Nonetheless, the aforesaid efforts are crucial with regards to the regulation of the organ trade business, for the equal protection of the interests of the donors, the recipients, and of the traders in human organs.
Cadaver Donations
In general, the issue of organ donation requires a great deal of caution in order to be ethical and transparent. The use of cadavers is more ethical, going by the fact that the families of the deceased and the deceased themselves normally provide consent for their organs to be harvested (Veatch, 2014). Moreover, the information provided on the families of the deceased usually involves an understanding that the organs go to save the lives of others. For these reasons, the families and individuals in question can pride themselves for having helped others, but without really being exploited. Additionally, the use of unclaimed bodies as cadavers for donation is also more ethical as compared to use of human beings. It is important to realize that cadaver use does not usually involve middlemen. Therefore, there is not the temptation to coerce the potential donors to give up their organs (Ireland, 2008).
Ethical Perception of Organ Trade
At the end of the day, there is no need to save a life if such saving will cost another. Such an event implies that some lives are more valuable than others and encourages exploitation of the poor (Ireland, 2008). Bodies such as the WHO is in place to ensure that unethical traders of organs are apprehended and the process made safer. If the world can save a life while making another one better off, then the process of organ trading can be considered as beneficial to the global society as a whole. Moreover, encouraging cadaver donation is also extremely important. Such is evident in card pledges with organizations that are licensed to acquire the bodies of their donors in the event of death to harvest their organs (Price, 2010). Encouraging such a process can also be viewed as an opportunity to preach to the world on the value of human life and encourage the understanding that to save a life is noble. Such nobility cannot exist with the oppression of another life but increases with regard to it.
To argue in favor of organ donation requires that the patient acquire a kidney that could save his or her life. The patient’s values and that of his family could be highly affected afterwards with the knowledge that their donor was coerced or enslaved and forcefully made to give up their kidney. For this reason, there is greater emphasis to continue in transparency through the process. Moreover, the general acceptance of such organs is a show of great hypocrisy in the system and double standards and must therefore be dealt with. Bodies such as the WHO must ensure that if there is need for organ donation, then the process should be carried out under great scrutiny and emphasis of donor consent. There is need for very high ethical standards in the field of donation and the organ transplant tourism which is growing into an industry itself. In the event that all these issues are sorted, then the existence of organ trade is perfectly acceptable. It is comforting to know that with such measures, there is possibility of a better society and war against renal diseases. Unfortunately, a completely transparent organ trading industry is extremely difficult to achieve albeit one that is necessary. After all, the value of human life on either side of the deal is monumental.
References
Charles Erin, J. (2011). An Ethical Market in Human Organs . New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Ireland, C. (2008). Ethicists, Philosophers Discuss Selling of Human Organs. Harvard Gazette .
Price, D. (2010). Legal and Ethical Aspects of Organ Transplantation . Cambridge: Cambridge Univeristy Press.
Shaperman, D. (2009). The Ethics of Human Organ Trading . New York : Armour Publishing .
Veatch, R. (2014). Transplantation Ethics . Georgtown : Georgetown University Press.
Wilkinson, T. (2011). Ethics and the Acquisition of Organs. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
