Essay Sample on Human Organ Trade: Unethical, Problematic and Unsustainable

Introduction

The sale, trade, and donation of human organs destroy human life, especially the poor and desperate people. It is very unethical because the practice causes more problems than the solution itself. Despite the appeal to compensate kidney donors, it should be understood that the kidney is not just a spare organ in a human body (Columb, 2015). It is a necessary organ that ought to exist as they naturally are. Many journals, research articles, or the organ brokers do not concentrate on telling the truth to their prospective donors about the long term effects of donating or selling organs. The reality is that many organ donors across the world undergo severe medical, social, and psychological consequences as a result of selling their organs. The most common problems include chronic pains that makes them uncomfortable for the rest of their lives and impaired function of their body. The major participants in organ donation practice are the poor and desperate persons who are motivated by the presence of money in exchange with their organs. These persons are highly exploited by the organ brokers who lure them into donating their organs then dump them without providing them with the necessary post-surgery care services. The donors are those that are mainly illiterate and lack appropriate information concerning the organs donation program. Hence, they rely on deceptive appeals by organ brokers who take away their organs without considering their long term survival care. As a result, the victims of organ donation suffer severe pains after operations (Ambagtsheer & Weimar, 2016). Other problems associated with organ selling or donation include acute depression, distorted body shape due to the absence of an organ, suicide thoughts, regret, anger, and isolation. In addition to that, selling, trading, or donating organs such as kidneys reduces one's activity. Therefore, they cannot carry out the same work that they carried out before undergoing the operation. Since most of the organ donors are poor, they rely entirely on hard work for survival. However, this cannot continue effectively after donating their organ since they will not be able to undertake hard tasks as they did before (Columb, 2015). As a result, they undergo a very hard life. Let alone the deceived donors, the worst of it all is that nowadays, the desperate people are executed for their organs to save some else's life. The practice is called human cannibalism. It is the practice whereby, a person is killed for their organs to save another person's life. Most of the victims are political prisoners. The execution is strategically planned under the influence of organ donors so that they can make money out of it. Therefore, human organ donation has shifted from the original version of altruism to illegal trade with more focus on money and less of it on the health of the donor (Gunnarson & Lundin, 2015).

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The problem of organ trade and donation has risen tremendously to its critical point and requires urgent solution to halt further destruction of human life. Thousands of people are being killed for their organs. The Orgamites (2016), in the article entitled "The Problem of Illegal Organ Trading Has an Obvious Solution," notes that World Health Organization reports 11,000 organs brutally extracted from Chinese political prisoners by doctors every year in hospitals. The organs that have been brutally extracted from prisoners are sold out to recipients who purchase them at a handsome price making organ brokers very rich through other people's sufferings. Apart from execution, organ brokers are never regulated in their activity. Therefore, they even have unlimited chances to oppress the innocent living persons for their organs, taking advantage of their desperate lives to make a lot of money for themselves. In the United States of America, numerous cases of outright murder for organs exist. Many people have been found brutally murdered and their organs missing showing that the reasons for such murders lie in the interest for their organs. High demand for organ transplants with ready money offered by receivers has led to escalating cases of murder not only in the United States of America but also in other parts of the world (Columb, 2015). Apart from such criminal murders, hospitals have also tremendously played a significant part in murdering patients for their organs. It is very painful having a loved one who has a mere sickness being murdered to save the life of a stranger. It causes severe pains, anger, and depression to the family and the community at large (Ambagtsheer & Weimar, 2016). It is even more heartbreaking to hear news of loved ones being murdered for their organs. If the trade is meant to save a life, why is it leading to killing other people? This simply means that the trade of human organs is a stringent violation of human rights, ethics, and morality that need urgent action to stop (Zhang et al., 2015). The people with low income are highly endangered since they are the major targets of the organ brokers who lure them with money and influence them to donate their organs. In Chicago, for example, some people who are struggling economically offer their kidneys for sale at a few thousand dollars. Many low-income earners in Illinois offer their kidneys for sale to meet their daily financial needs. All these people are not registered by the government as kidney donors. They do so illegally for love of money rather than their lives. In China, only 37 people were registered kidney donors in 2016. However, thousands of kidney transplants were operated that year. The transplants were sourced from poor Chinese people who were paid little money for their organs without consideration for their post-operation expenses. In India, more than 2,000 poverty-stricken people sold their kidneys to organ brokers in the year 2016. All these people combined, have joined the painful experience for illegal organ donation for money and even more, people are doing the same every year. If this practice proceeds without any action to stop it, communities will remain dormant with people who are unable to work and generate income for themselves since organ donors do not have the capacity to work hard for their income and to build the economy of their country. Apart from that, the practice will lead to further escalation of unlawful execution of loved ones in prisons, the murder of patients in hospitals, as well as cold blood murders of the innocent persons on streets. To solve the problem of increased criminal activities, it would be better to address it from the roots, which is the trade, sale, and donation of human organs (Columb, 2015). When this problem is properly addressed, there will be no brutal killings of innocent persons on streets, patients will be safe in hospitals, and prisoners will have opportunity to get justice without being brutally executed for their organs (Caulfield et al., 2016).

To solve this problem, the government should ban any illegal sale, trade, or donation of human organs. Instead, the practice should be done in an organized manner whereby a patient with renal failure is helped by their friends, relatives, or anyone else with free will to help. The donation should be done in an orderly manner where the donor becomes registered by the government, having obtained approval of their free will to donate the organ. After that, the government should take the responsibility to provide the necessary care for the donor due to their post-operation medical costs to help restore them to normal (Ambagtsheer & Weimar, 2016). Having such organized steps would alleviate the problem that the current illegal donors undergo after being dumped by organ brokers. The steps should be very clear to help save the lives of the donor and the recipient. Given the high demand for human organ transplants and the fact that people who are willing to donate their organs are few, it would also be sensible to extract these vital organs from dead people to help save lives of those struggling with organ failure problems (Zhang et al., 2015). The organs such as liver, intestines, lungs, heart, or kidney can safely be extracted from dead people to help save the lives of patients whose organs are non-functional. The practice will alleviate the problem of organ sale or trade because no new deaths will result from the practice. To make this practice be orderly, the deceased person must have approved the donation of the organs upon their death, or, the loved ones of the deceased must append their approval of the practice before it is done. After the deceased has donated the organ, the government should compensate family members of the deceased accordingly. This will alleviate the problem of ruthless execution of patients since the ultimate decision shall be made by the individual person out of free will and approval by their loved ones. To reinforce this order, all people should take responsibility to identify and report illegal human organ brokers to the government authorities and stop any activity involved in the illegal sale of organs. The people of the community should stop any process they suspect to be part of the organ transaction and report the matter to the police for appropriate action to be taken against the parties involved. By doing this, people will discourage the practice and organ brokers will not find the opportunity to continue afflicting many people with untold pains (Ambagtsheer & Weimar, 2016).

Conclusion

Heaping the responsibility unto the government will make everything under control such that there will be no extreme impacts after the operation have been undertaken (Zhang et al., 2015). The government will take the entire responsibility to restore the welfare of the registered organ donors and ensure that everyone is safe. Besides, there will be a mutual care and trust relationship between the donor and the receiver, especially where the donor is the loved, friend, or relative to the recipient. As a result, both the donor and recipient will have their welfare restored and live happily under care and trust. Apart from that, the brutal effects of the illegal human organ sale, trade and donation will be highly controlled.

References

Ambagtsheer, F., & Weimar, W. (2016). Organ trade: Knowledge, awareness, and nonlegislative responses. Transplantation, 100(1), 5-6.

Caulfield, T., Duijst, W., Bos, M., Chassis, I., Codreanu, I., Danovitch, G., ... & Shin, M. (2016). Trafficking in human beings for the purpose of organ removal and the ethical and legal obligations of healthcare providers. Transplantation direct, 2(2).

Columb, S. (2015). Beneath the organ trade: a critical analysis of the organ trafficking discourse. Crime, law and social change, 63(1-2), 21-47.

Gunnarson, M., & Lundin, S. (2015). The complexities of victimhood: Insights from the organ trade. Somatechnics, 5(1), 32-51.

The Orgamites. (2016, August 17). The Problem of Illegal Organ Trading Has an Obvious Solution. Retrieved from https://orgamites.com/illegal-organ-trade/

Zhang, G. Y., Liao, T., Fu, X. B., & Li, Q. F. (2015). Organ transplantation in China: concerns remain. The Lancet, 385(9971), 854-855.