Does anybody out there need a kidney? Sure, it’s not a question you hear everyday, but apparently Iran has a few we could order up if you answered “yes” . What do you say?
Iran is not usually a country we look to in order to draw ideas from, especially fiscally driven ones. But it seems that they have an incredibly successful organ vendor program.
Transplant nephrologist Benjamin E. Hippen out of North Carolina recently published a paper called “Organ Sales and Moral Travails: Lessons From the Living Kidney Vendor Program in Iran.”
If you are shaking your head at this point asking if I am serious, indeed I am. Here are some excerpts from Dr. Hippen’s paper…
Insofar as the kidney procurement system in Iran can be characterized as a “market,” it is a highly standardized and regulated market with only modest room for negotiation. …
Vendors are paid in two ways. First, the Iranian government provides a fixed compensation to the vendor of approximately $1,200 plus limited health insurance coverage, which currently extends to one year after the exchange and covers only conditions deemed related to the surgery. Second, the vendor receives separate remuneration either from the recipient or, if the recipient is impoverished, from one of a series of designated charitable organizations; this amount is usually between $2,300 and $4,500. …
The most contentious disagreements in the literature regarding kidney vending in Iran have to do with the personal, physical, and financial consequences for vendors themselves. This issue is complicated by an absence of routine follow-up. …
Despite a flourishing kidney vendor program, biologically related donation has consistently constituted 12 to 13 percent of all donated kidneys, and that fraction has persisted in tandem with the rapid rate of growth in kidneys procured (without compensation to the donor’s estate or family) from deceased donors. …
Just how is this publication received by peers and other scholars? Honestly, what I have read has proven to be a mixed bag of comments. Although the data is there and abundantly proves to uphold the claim of organ vendors, it is out of Iran and that serves as strike one. Strike two? There is little or no follow up data on the recipients of the organs.
Dr. Hippin’s advice for the US on organ vending is rather rational and simple; although, I do not think it will ever have it’s time in the spotlight…
The portion of the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 which prohibits the sale of organs should be repealed. … Because so much is still unknown regarding how organ sales would work in the United States, individual transplant centers and organ procurement organizations should be permitted to experiment with how to implement a system of organ vending.
What do you think about the opportunity to capitalize on human organs? If it was your family member at the bottom of that very long transplant list would you want an alternative solution? I have been there and we were fortunate to receive a kidney from a perished person that was thankfully and organ donor, but that is not to say that the majority of the situations end as such. Are you an organ donor?
via New York Times
LOVE…THIS…TITLE… “Organ Sales and Moral Travails: Lessons From the Living Kidney Vendor Program in Iran.”
“If you are shaking your head at this point asking if I am serious, indeed I am…”
thanks for the article. Good times.
Mark that license…….
I guess we can be reasonably sure that the Iranian kidneys have no damage from Alcohol.
Barry…I was going to say the same thing but P.C. stopped me…..I never want to upset anyone. Although its probably true.
I would have to question, as too how these kidney’s came in to the market.
Great story Kendra. I am an organ donor and I’d like to know more about how recipients get to the top of the list. I want to make sure my organs go to the most needy person with the best chance of survival and not to some booze-hound celebrity who has the influence or the cash to get dibs on my liver.
Now imgine a doctor….who is greedy…as you lay on the bed….does he go for the buck…or keeping you going ?
Thats where the problem of selling organs gets dicey.
No, no, no…. they are not killing people and/or hiding behind walls and taking people out for their organs but offering insurance, healthcare and incentives to those that ‘donate’ a kidney. They are calling it a ‘sale’ of organs because there is monetary compensation.
Kendra…i fully understand…and im referring to organ sale in america….and kendra…as all things can be corrupted…the scenerio i described could develope if organ purchasing was allowed.
Allowing people to sell organs would save thousands of lives every year. Unfortunately, there is no reason to think Congress will legalize this in the foreseeable future.
Fortunately, there is an already-legal way to put a big dent in the organ shortage — allocate donated organs first to people who have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. The United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the national organ allocation system, has the power to make this simple policy change. No legislative approval is required.
Americans who want to donate their organs to other registered organ donors don’t have to wait for UNOS to act. They can join LifeSharers, a non-profit network of organ donors who agree to offer their organs first to other organ donors when they die. Membership is free at http://www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.
Giving organs first to organ donors will convince more people to register as organ donors. It will also make the organ allocation system fairer. People who aren’t willing to share the gift of life should go to the back of the waiting list as long as there is a shortage of organs.
I want to sale my one kidney. I m 32 years. I m in India.
Dear sir
I want to sale my kidny because i am very poor boy and i want fee for my M-Tech Education so please it’s not a sale it’s my requirment for my education
my contact no
+91-9413863753 (India)
this is unungoddam beleivable
my uncle has kidney failure and found out that he has 1 year to live
he has a wife and 2 loving children under the age 4 years
if you know information on how i can get a kidney and the procedures of getting one.
thank you
your regards
sarah