A man from New Jersey, New York was arrested and charged with the arrangement for the trade of kidney from a donor in Israel. Levy Izhak Rosenbaum is one of the many kidney brokers who make a fortune from the brokerage of human organs commonly referred to as the human trafficking for organs ( Vincenti et al., 2016) . Also known as transplant tourism, organ trafficking, organ purchases or illegal organ trade, human trafficking for organs involves the smuggling of donors for organ extraction. This case has been categorized as trade as the definition of trade is the act of selling, buying, or swapping services or goods among people, countries, or firms. Levy Rosenbaum did not buy or sell anything but according to him was "matchmaker" bringing together the buyer and seller for the exchange of the organ for money.
Many people’s lives have been saved by organ transplants, making it one of the best inventions of the 20 th century. One may wonder then, why was Rosenbaum arrested? Generally, more than 125, 000 people each year, undergo the transplantation of organs ( Stewart et al., 2016) . Compared to the number of people in need of the organs, this number is minimal as the demand is higher than the supply. As such, if there are no regulations regarding the transfer of human organs, then many people will lose their lives as the organs can only be obtained from human beings. Therefore, it is mandatory that people like Rosenbaum spend time behind bars to serve as an example to others with the same motives.
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Levy Izhak Rosenbaum had attempted to sell the kidney to an undercover FBI agent who had alleged the organ was meant for a sick uncle. The broker had at first sold the kidney at USD$ 150,000 but later hiked the price to USD$160,000 claiming that it was hard to come across people who were willing to donate their organs ( Stewart et al., 2016) . Based on his recorded statement, Rosenbaum had claimed to be in the trade for more than a decade, and it was just the past fortnight that he had arranged for the transfer of another kidney ( Massie et al., 2016) . The broker even went ahead and gave the FBI agent the telephone number to the previous patient, and they talked over the phone.
It would have been okay if the donors had any say in the negotiations, but the donors are paid a paltry sum, and the brokers take the lion's share when the donors face a myriad of problems with some said to have succumbed to death after the operations. Most of the donors are propelled to enter into the business due to poverty, and hence are desperate for money ( Habbous et al., 2018) . Thus, most do not even know where to turn to when the surgeries they undergo are botched up, or they contract infections after the operations. If the brokers brought the donors to the table, then it would be okay because after the surgeries they would be assured of medical attention.
In the case of Rosenbaum’s donor, Elahn Quick, his last wishes to withdraw from the surgery were not respected, and he was forced to undergo surgery against his wishes. This act alone makes Rosenbaum an accomplice to a crime. Based on other cases, the donors have been paid as little as USD$ 3,000 which makes the brokers fraudsters as the excess money they take is meant for the donors and the same applies with Rosenbaum ( Massie et al., 2016) . This broker is a fraudster as the information submitted to the hospital s that the donor is related to the recipient which is false. Furthermore, the broker pays no taxes in regards to his brokerage business that has been running for ten years; reason enough to charge him with defrauding the government taxes.
In this case, it is hard to verify whether all the donors had accented to the surgery as there are cases where immigrants are kidnapped or even killed for their organs. This brokerage enterprise runs by Levy Rosenbaum gas no documentation, making it, even more, illegal operation and the proprietor a criminal ( Habbous et al., 2018) . If he has harmed no one, then there is a probability that he might hurt someone in the future as people are ready to pay hefty prices for the organs. Even though most of the transplant patients protested on the day of his hearing demanding that he be released, but still, the guy needs to be behind bars as he participated in transplant tourism, organ trafficking, organ purchases, illegal organ trade, or human trafficking for organs.
He participated in transplant tourism by trafficking Elahn Quick from Israel to New York for the kidney organ. He was the coordinator of the sale of the kidney, thus, can be charged with initiating organ purchases and no reason to define illegal organ trade as the entire transaction that he was involved in, was not legalized ( Domínguez-Gil, López-Fraga, Muller, & Gill, 2017) . Under each definition of the criminal act that Rosenbaum took part in, he is guilty as charged. In simple terms, he recruited the young donor from Israel to an American hospital where he exchanged his kidney for money.
Rosenbaum was not alone in the business as he must have had a connection with other brokers back in Israel who managed the other end of the market to ensure that a candidate s always available for surgery. The criminal network makes the business even more dangerous as anyone among the links can decide to take another life in the case volunteers are hard to come by ( Fishman, 2017) . In South Africa, the largest private medical group was taken to court for the same charges. During the proceedings of the case, it was revealed that the institution performed organ transplants from child donors who were against its own rules and regulations. The hospital was fined more than USD$ 1 million for illegal activities.
This case is similar to Rosenbaum’s, and the only difference is that the hospital had medical records of the donors and it was revealed that one hundred of them had undergone the surgeries. The similarity in the two cases is the economic status of the organ givers was the same; they were all from impoverished backgrounds. The hospital received the transplant tourists from as far as Brazil. The trade is illegal because in most cases it is members of the wealthy families who were the organizers or brokers in the business while the poor were the contributors.
Levy Izhak Rosenbaum who is also known as Isaac Rosenbaum a citizen of Israel was sentenced to two and a half years in jail for crimes of receiving, acquiring and transferring the organs that belong to humans for monetary gains. This trade is ethically wrong as it makes organ transplant an expensive surgery that is privileged to the few who can afford it contrary to the practice of medicine which is meant for everyone without any prejudice ( Domínguez-Gil, López-Fraga, Muller, & Gill, 2017) . Moreover, the illegal trade in human organs is a health hazard to the public as the seller can acquire transmittable diseases like AIDS or get organs that do not perfectly match.
References
Domínguez-Gil, B., López-Fraga, M., Muller, E., & Gill, J. S. (2017). The key role of health professionals in preventing and combating transplant-related crimes. Kidney international , 92 (6), 1299-1302.
Fishman, J. A. (2017). Infection in organ transplantation. American Journal of Transplantation , 17 (4), 856-879.
Habbous, S., McArthur, E., Dixon, S. N., McKenzie, S., Garcia-Ochoa, C., Lam, N. N., & Sarma, S. (2018). Initiating Maintenance Dialysis Before Living Kidney Donor Transplantation When a Donor Candidate Evaluation Is Well Underway. Transplantation , 102 (7), e345-e353.
Massie, A. B., Leanza, J., Fahmy, L. M., Chow, E. K., Desai, N. M., Luo, X., & Segev, D. L. (2016). A risk index for living donor kidney transplantation. American Journal of Transplantation, 16(7), 2077-2084.
Stewart, D. E., Kucheryavaya, A. Y., Klassen, D. K., Turgeon, N. A., Formica, R. N., & Aeder, M. I. (2016). Changes in deceased donor kidney transplantation one year after KAS implementation. American Journal of Transplantation, 16(6), 1834-1847.
Vincenti, F., Rostaing, L., Grinyo, J., Rice, K., Steinberg, S., Gaite, L., & Meier-Kriesche, H. U. (2016). Belatacept and long-term outcomes in kidney transplantation. New England Journal of Medicine , 374 (4), 333-343.
