Human Organ Trafficking
- Organ Trafficking is the collection, transport, harboring, or transfer of organs from living or dead people by means of threat or other forms of force, fraud or deception, or the receiving of payment to the donor by a third party to exploit or remove organs for transplantation.
- This practice is illegal and common in poor countries.
Punjab Scandal, 2002
- Over 1.5 billion rupees was involved between the donors, doctors, and middlemen
- The trafficking took place from 1997 to 2002, when it was then uncovered.
- The majority of kidney donors were poor migrant workers who were only paid about 25,000 rupees (equivalent to $523) out of the million rupees given for each kidney.
- Many donors were not given proper care and were threatened with imprisonment. At least six died.
First Case Documented in U.S., 2009
- Levy Izhak Rosenbaum was selling kidneys to desperate patients for $160,000.
- Patients were brought from Israel to the United States and paid $10,000.
- This was the first discovered and documented organ trafficking in the U.S.
Trafficking Facts
- Kidneys are the most common organ sold on the black market.
- The market generates between $514 million to $1 billion each year.
- Up to 7,000 kidneys are obtained every year.
- Many donors have improper post surgical care, and many recipients have complications with donated organs.
- Many donors are tricked into donation.
- Human organ trafficking is a violation of human rights.
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