Organ Market pt1 - Why has an illegal organ market emerged?

Question 1

What has caused the surge in DEMAND for organs that has meant an illegal market for organs has emerged?

Answer 1

The demand rise in recent years has been caused by:

• Ageing populations = As people live longer, they experience age-related conditions like kidney and liver failure become more common and therefore a greater need for organ transplants.
• Greater public awareness and better diagnosis of organ diseases = Public can identify when their organs are failing or have organ disease compared to before - leading to more people getting diagnosed. Also greater diagnosis technology and doctor’s knowledge leading to more accurate diagnosis and more people added to organ transplant list.
  (Essentially this means greater quantity of people knowing to get diagnosed and greater quality to diagnose them.
• Fewer number of voluntary donations (Columb 2017).

Question 2

What are the STATISTICS behind the GROWTH of the illegal market?

Answer 2

• The Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT) estimate that only 10% of global demand is met each year (Columb 2024).
• In 2014, there were over 120,000 waiting for organ transplants and only 16,000 received a transplant (only 15%).
• In the US in 2013, 4,453 people died waiting for a kidney transplant.

Question 3

How much are people willing to pay for organs and what is causing this high price?

Answer 3

• Up to $200,000 for an organ.
• Due to the lack of supply forcing prices up and therefore only the wealthier people can afford.
• Because of the desperation to have an organ transplant to survive or boost quality of life, buyers are more willing to pay a much higher amount.

Question 4

Why do people sell their organs? + How much do they actually receive for their organs + reference?

Answer 4

• Despite buyers paying up to $200,000 for organs, the sellers only receive about $5,000 at most (Columb 2017).
• To escape relative poverty (Kid who sold his kidneys for iPhone and iPad) (Patience 2011).
• To escape poverty.
• To have enough money to escape a dangerous country.

Question 5

Why do sellers receive so little for their organs? + reference.

Answer 5

• In many cases, the sellers are deceived into selling their organs for a high price but only receive a fraction of the price, therefore they are exploited.
• Payments made to the people who are part of the organ transplant process: traffickers, recruiters, transporters, medical practitioners, contractors, etc. (Columb 2017).
• Desperation for money leads to people selling their organs for less.