Running head: ORGAN DONATIONS 1

Organ Donations

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Date
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Organ Donations

In 1954, the first successful kidney transplant was contacted between two identical twins.

Since then, organ transplantation is a lifesaving approach towards diseases that have proven to be

incurable. Organ donations are done by living or deceased individuals to a patient with terminal

failure of a critical organ (Capron, Danovitch, & Delmonico, 2014). Increased demand for organ

transplantation has turned the organ donation into business rather than voluntary procedures. The

sale of human organs is a burning issue that has hit headlines across the globe. The issue has

received mixed feelings from different bodies and individuals both from the eyes of the law, faith

organizations, and civil rights activists. Different possible kinds of organ sales are being

contacted despite the firm measures that term it as a vice and an illegal practice.

One of the cases on human trafficking was reported in 2009 that touched on the United

States and Israel involving Levy Izhak Rosenbaum commonly known as a “matchmaker”

(Porter, D., & Johnson, 2009). Rosenbaum was a broker for human kidneys. The deals were

sealed in a black-market package where Rosenbaum bought organs from the less fortunate

persons for $10,000 from Israel and sold them at $60,000 to frantic patients in the United States

(Porter, & Johnson, 2009). Before the arrest of Rosenbaum, he was on a mission of brokering a

kidney for a client who wanted a kidney transplant for his uncle on dialysis. The broker would

bring the kidney donors from Israel to the US for surgery and removal of the kidney. According

to the United Network for Organ Sharing, 4,540 lives were lost in the United States in 2008 as

they sought kidney donation (Ambagtsheer, Zaitch, & Weimar, 2013). The deaths were due to

the high demand for kidneys that outstripped the supply. It provided for the rise of the black

market for the procuring of the kidneys all over the globe. On further analysis of Rosenbaum's
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case, it was found that he could use a gun to threaten a potential organ seller in case they got cold

over the deal.

After scrutiny of the case, the contacts and practices of Rosenbaum lie under the category

of human organ trafficking. According to the US law, organ trafficking is defined as the hosting,

traveling and transfer, receiving deceased or living peoples, or organs by force, threat or any

other kind of humiliation, fraud, kidnapping, mis-receipt or deceit by subsidies or a third party of

financial gain given to oppress the contingent donor and use them as an organ donor (Cohen,

2012). Rosenbaum's contacts were illegal and he was guilty of the use of violence against

kidney donors, blackmailing them, and participating in the black market sell of human organs. It

is illegal for an individual to be involved in organ trafficking. It is against the law for any donor

to receive gifts or money for organ donation (Cherry, 2015). It is evident that Rosenbaum

brokered organs and sold them at a profit to the people who dearly needed them. There were no

documented contracts of agreement between the parties involved in these transactions which

yielded to black-market business.

Furthermore, organ donation should be out of a will, the humane call for help and to save

a life but not for monetary gain or benefit. Rosenbaum's approach was not centered on human

call but the greed for money and need huge profits at the expense of other people's agony and

sickness. The use of a gun to threaten some of the organ donors who showed cold feet on the

deal makes the matter worse. It is unlawful to use force or to threaten an individual for any

reason. Rosenbaum tricked hospitals into believing that the kidney donor was acting purposely

out of compassion and will for a loved one or a friend (Capron, Danovitch, & Delmonico, 2014).

On the same note, Rosenbaum did not care for the people who sell the kidneys, instead, he acted
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irresponsibly and was only driven by the greed for money. The main target for his business was

the poor and vulnerable donors who could easily be manipulated and exploited.

Additionally, the practice of getting paid for organs has raised several moral, ethical, and

societal concerns about the methods of organ allocation, supply, and the use of living donors

which at some point includes minors. There remain unresolved issues on the organ donation

which incorporates brokers and entrepreneurs for financial gains. It is clear that the human body

is not a commodity thus selling any part of it is unlawful in most of the countries across the

world (Territo, & Matteson, 2011). Though it is not agreed on the best way to approach organ

donation regarding who should and who should not donate their organ, there is a need for

informed consent on the side effects of donating the organ. The individuals should be informed

on the best approaches they can employ in their lives to continue in good health thereafter. It is

from this stance that I find it wrong and unethical thus Rosenbaum is the guilt of organ

trafficking.

Generally, Rosenbaum acted against the laws of the and provisions regarding organ

donation. Rosenbaum did not mind donor safety, made the donors view their bodies as

commodities and money-making tools, and made the unfair appeal of financial incentives to the

desperate people. Trafficking and trading of the human organs is a disrespectful and immoral

practice.
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References

Ambagtsheer, F., Zaitch, D., & Weimar, W. (2013). The battle for human organs: Organ

trafficking and transplant tourism in a global context. Global Crime, 14(1), 1-26.

Capron, A. M., Danovitch, G. M., & Delmonico, F. L. (2014). Organ markets: Problems beyond

harms to vendors. The American Journal of Bioethics, 14(10), 23-25.

Cherry, M. J. (2015). Kidney for sale by owner: human organs, transplantation, and the market.

Georgetown University Press.

Cohen, I. G. (2012). Can the government ban organ sales? Recent court challenges and the future

of US law on selling human organs and other tissue. American Journal of

Transplantation, 12(8), 1983-1987.

Porter, D., & Johnson, C. (2009). The first case of organ trafficking in the U.S.?. msnbc.com.

Retrieved 9 August 2020, from http://www.nbcnews.com/id/32132371/ns/us_news-

crime_and_courts/t/first-case-organ-trafficking-us/#.Xy935igzbIV.

Territo, L., & Matteson, R. (Eds.). (2011). The international trafficking of human organs: a

multidisciplinary perspective. CRC Press.