Glaser, Sheri R. Formula to Stop the Illegal Organ Trade: Presumed Consent Laws and Mandatory Reporting Requirements for Doctors. Human Rights Brief. 2007. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
Glaser in this article uses a mildly aggressive approach towards Organ Trade and Organ traffickers. The article describes and discusses cases of organ trafficking and the methods of the Black Market of the organ trade.
An example from the conduct of the Chinese officials with executed criminals’ bodies and how the judiciary involves throws a hint of how governments are involved as well. The article also points out the involvement of doctors, both knowingly and unknowingly, in this trade. Glaser also elaborates on how the trade works completely based upon demand and supply and how organs are brought cheaply and sold at many times the donors share. Unfortunately there is very less that is being done to remedy this trade, mainly because of its secretive nature. There is sufficient explanatory proof from all over the world of how organ donors have to face serious health problems after their procedures.
It is suggested in the article that Organ Trade should come under direct legal scrutiny and should be regulated and controlled through proper laws and policies that benefit both the donor and the receiver ends. The article also enumerates the remedial methods that can be undertaken to curb Organ trade and trafficking, putting responsibility on governments, doctors, donors as well as receivers to help put an end to this Black Market.
Griffin, Anne. Iranian organ donation: Kidneys on demand. BMJ 2007; 334. 8 March 2007. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
This is an investigative article by Anne Griffin that discusses about the Iranian system of organ donation and is generically written as an open invitation for debate from the general people. The language is simple to understand and even highly complex statistics and ideas are presented in a manner that shows a lot of neutrality allowing the reader to understand and comprehend the present situation, without bogging them down with any regional or religious notions.
Griffin declares in the beginning of the confirmation of the end of organ trade in Iran. The article does an in depth discussion of the kidney donation waiting lists and how transplant demands are met through references from WHO. The article emphasizes on the history of organ donation trade in beginning from the first Renal Transplant facilities set up in 1980s by the Ministry of Health in Iran. The statistical data shown by Iran brings to light the tremendous amount of organ donations ever since. It goes into in depth detailing of the donors and recipients of kidneys and helps the reader understand the working system in brevity. It emphasizes on the organizations like Organ Watch and individuals like Dr. Francis Delmonico who work in or document the field of organ trade.
The article shows concern over the ethical issues linked with organ trade. The article concludes with an assurance that the kidney transplant waiting list in Iran has improved, but also shows concern for the people who cannot have access to kidney transplantation for want of money.
Hippen, Benjamin E. Organ Sales and Moral Travails: Lessons from the Living Kidney Vendor Program in Iran. Policy Analysis. Cato Institute. March 20, 2008. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
Benjamin Hippen in this Policy Analysis reviews the vows faced by the United States due to policy failures faced in the matter of Kidney transplantation and how the cost of this failure would be paid with many human lives in the years to come. The policy report looks at the massive federal expenditure increase in organ trade in the future.
The article emphasizes on the growing numbers end stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and the low supply of kidneys for transplantation. Hippen blames artificially low supply of donated organs by a prohibition on their sale. Hippen goes on to relate the situation with Iran and compares the policies of United States regarding Organ Donation with that of Iran. However, the article remains neutral as it does not glorify the Iranian Organ donation policies and legal procedures but points out that United States must learn from these policies and demands directly to repeal a portion of the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 which prohibits the sale of organs.
Muraleedharan, Vangal R., Stephen Jan and S. Ram Prasad. The trade in human organs in Tamil Nadu: the anatomy of regulatory failure. Health Economics, Policy and Law, 2005, vol. 1, issue 01. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
Vangal R. Muraleedharan and his team of researchers wrote this research report on the Indian scenario of Organ Trade and organ black market. The research article is aimed at academic and medical thinkers who debate and contemplate the ethical validity of organ trade.
It examines the extent of effectiveness of the regulatory controls of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (1994) as well as the human nature that acts as a constraint on its effective implementation. This research is a politico-economic analysis of regulations in the public health sector and how it is based on stakeholder and reveals the views of key decision makers, organ doctors, service providers and recipients. The research finds a “widespread acknowledgement” of the existence of an organs trade and identifies major constraints on the effective implementation of the above mentioned Act. These constraints are: commercial interests of middlemen and organ donation service providers, the obscurities and loopholes in the Act itself; low monitoring capacity of authorities in charge of regulation, and pressures and responsibilities put forth on Authorizing Committees.
The research discusses about the features of the Act which includes the fact its own implementation is subject to a major incentive compatibility constraint. The act is apparently not suitable to the interests of any of the important players, including the regulatory authorities, to restrict the organ trade. The paper also discusses the reason for such kinds of failure and points out that such an institutional issue is created by the specificity of the nature of regulatory intervention.
The research in a personal view suggests different solutions to this problem, but conclusively hints at the ethical validation of the legitimacy of such a trade.
Truog, Robert D. Perspective: The Ethics of Organ Donation by Living Donors. The New England Journal of Medicine. 4 Aug. 2005. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
Truog in this article discusses the matter of the validity of the organ trade with the medical community as well as people who may be interested in the subject. The key subject of this article is the ethical issues involved in this trade, where an organ is removed from a healthy person and is used to treat a patient.
The article discusses about the advances in the art of surgery and quotes statistics from United Network for Organ Sharing of the health and well-being of donors. The article is written from the perspective of a physician and sends a message of concern for the general health of everyone. The article debates the ethics related to the reasons for organ donation and argues the case with examples from an organ donor website MatchingDonors.com. The article suggests how and why organ trade services should be regulated by the UNOS and asks for a comprehensive over view of each case to cure the pitfall of ethics. It is a good read to understand that most doctors who conduct surgeries related to organ transplants are concerned with the general health of the patient as well as the donor and have to face ethical dilemmas of using transplant surgery as a cure for organ failures.
One unique feature that sets this article apart from most of the other articles on this subject is that it considers other organ donations like lobes of liver and lungs, while most other articles focus mainly on the organ trade of kidneys.
Watts, Jonathan. The Lancet, Legal and illegal organ donation. The Lancet, Volume 369. 15 June 2007. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
This article is a documented statistics on the validity of the Organ Trade activities followed by the Chinese government. The article discusses about how the Chinese government uses corpses of executed convicts for harvesting organs.
After receiving severe speculations on the matter the Chinese government passed legislation that put an end to the legal sale of organs. However, the article highlights the fact that China recently introduced new laws to standardize the organ collection process. This new legislation contains regulations stating the particulars of hospitals that are qualified to perform operations and the legal definition of brain-death. The article claims that foreign patients looking for transplant are not accepted in China any more. The article also talks about the global impacts of the withdrawal of the Chinese from the global organ trade and how this withdrawal has affected the global market rates.
The information presented in this article is highly sensitive and speculative. Although convincing, it must be updated with the latest public policies of the Chinese legislation that seldom makes modifications to their laws based on world issues and demands.
