Organ trade, sales, or donation should be illegalized.
The legalization of the sales, trade, or donation of the organs will create a condition for human organ trafficking that will affect the lower class more while benefiting the higher class. The difference is that the case is made legal when a willing donor donates the organs. The donation has appeared to be the most effective legal way of acquiring organs for a patient with organs failure. The involvement of trade in the sector has led to human organ trafficking that is an illegal activity. Commercializing the topic has led to the development of organ trafficking agencies involved in the illegal removal of the organs from unwilling donors, followed by the sales and purchases of the organs in the dark market. The increased number of patients in need of organ transplants has led to organ transplants in the market, as the demand for the organs is very high. In the United States, more than a hundred thousand patients were reported to require organ transplants by 2020. The organs commonly donated include the kidney, liver, lungs, heart, pancreas, hand, and face (Cleveland Clinic, 2021). Most of them can only be donated after the donor is dead, as they cannot survive without the organs in question. Similarly, there are several organs that a donor can donate when alive. They include one kidney, one lung, a part of the liver, pancreases, and intestines. The fatality of the trade and sales of the organs is considered when the sales involve people taking another person’s life to get the organs for the sales. The problems associated with the commercialization of the practice affect the lower class more through the cartels' whole harvest of the organs without considering the patients' health.
The most common problem associated with organ sales and trade is organ trafficking which is known to cause death to ninety percent of the donors. The harvesting of the organs involves the people in the underdeveloped countries where most people are uneducated, homeless and refugees or cases of creditors improvising on the debts ((United Nations, 2018). Mostly the operation during harvesting is usually performed by untrained personnel, causing death to the unsuspecting donors. Harvesting of the vital organs like the heart offers high profits to the organ traffickers, whereas the patient involved in the harvesting cannot survive the operation causing their death. The corrupt nature of the practice prohibits the practice in most communities where they consider the actions life-threatening to cause the traffickers to engage in illegal activities to obtain the organs. In most cases where the patient survives the harvesting, they are associated with a complication from the lack of one organ in their system. The most common health issues associated with the victims of organ trafficking involve infections from the dangerous medical procedures performed on them, diseases like diabetes, anemia due to loss of blood during the harvesting of the organs among others. The unprofessional harvesting of organs in the patients and donors involved in the practice has led to the increased cases of complication among the victims (Srour, 2018). Cases of infection among the victims have been reported making the life of the victims a lot more risky in cases where the other organs fail to function. The most common effect is the psychological trauma caused by experiencing the whole process leading to depression, helplessness, and shame among the victims. To eradicate the trauma caused by the whole experience the government should ensure the security of the poor to protect them from exploitation through policy development and financial support as well as offering post-trauma counseling to reduce cases of suicides.
Even if f the donor was involved in the process voluntarily, cases of complications in their body are usually experienced. The risks involved include high blood pressure, high levels of protein in the kidney donors, and increased risks of kidney failure. The surgery-related risks to the donor whose health condition was not at risk include pain, cases of infection from the surgery, hernia, cases of bleeding and blood clotting, and sometimes death (Mayo clinic, 2021). The psychological issues are associated with developing mental issues leading to anxiety and depression to the donor. The cases where the organ fails to be operational in the recipient causing their death leads to resentment and regret to the donor where they may develop depression. Despite the good intension of the donor, the surgery can result in a complication that can lead to their death after the recipient fails to survive from the transplant, especially in cases of incompatibility of the organs. Despite the known advantages of organ transplant among the patient who have undergone the whole process, cases of complication are among the main causes of death among the recipients. The patients of an organ transplant have to deal with the side effects associated with the transplant, including high blood pressure, anemia, and cases of blood clotting, among others (Khatri, 2019). The whole process is made risky due to the risks associated with surgery and cases of incompatibility of the organ donated. This makes the case more unsafe as it operates with probability, as many factors are not certain despite the medical test conducted on the recipients. Cases of organ rejection in the recipient body can be hyperacute rejection, acute rejection, and chronic rejection. to ensure that the patient doesn't undergo the transplant the government should ensure that the patients' condition is treated with other means through facilitating development in the health sector. This will include early screening and practices like dialysis for kidney patients.
To facilitate the protection of the lower class people from the higher class and offering remedies to the organ harvesting cartels, the government should develop policies to make the trade and sales of organs illegal. Similar policies were implemented in countries like Canada, where the government has developed Bill S-240 that prohibits importing human organs in the country (Doctors against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH). 2019). This law considers it a criminal offense to receive organs from individuals without their consent. This among other policies are the key to the mitigation of the human organ trafficking thus helping in saving of life lost through the practice. Cartels involved in the criminal activities of organ harvesting are not allowed to get into the country, thus protecting the citizens from the practice. Furthermore, in developing a declaration against organ trafficking, consideration of the community and cultural norms can be used to offer remedies to the problem. In this, the government is required to develop clinical measures that will help prevent organ failure cases, thus eliminating the market for the organ cartel. To ensure the program’s success, the government should research various ways to reduce and prevent conditions like hepatitis, hypertension, and other conditions that lead to organ failure (Martin, et al., 2019). The program's success can be enhanced through occasional screening of the patient to provide an early analysis of the organs before their failure. In cases where organ transplant is avoidable, the government should devise a program that allows them to acquire the organs from deceased people, thus catering to the high demand for the organs in the hospital. The source of information on the organ cartels can offer a freeway to controlling the trafficking market. In this, as the people at the center of the whole operation, the health care professionals can provide variable information on the organ trafficking network to reduce cases of individuals engaged in organ donation through the cartels searching for money. (Scannell, et al., 2018). The health professional should provide the patient with detailed information on the relevant risks associated with the practice. Revision on the policies restricting the physician from providing necessary information on the individual involved in an illegal transplant should be revised (Caulfield, et al., 2016). The policies can help them provide the information necessary to reduce and eradicate the sales and trade of organs, thus eradicating organ trafficking. Information on dealing with the patient involved with illegal transplants should be provided through the policy to ensure the health care workers have been equipped with the right measure to remedy organ trafficking.
Conclusion.
According to Immanuel Kant, an eighteenth-century philosopher, the human body should be treated with dignity and respect. In this, the proposes that the human body has worth beyond any price that they can be offered on it; thus, the selling of the organs is the degradation of individual dignity and respect to the human body. The increased demand for organs has led to the involvement of people in illegal activity for personal gains. Similarly, legalizing the practice in the developed countries can be effective to these countries. Still, it will lead to increased effects on the underdeveloped countries, especially to the poor people in the community. The concept of trafficking involves the harvesting of organs from the poor and selling them to the rich, thus to will cause more effects to the lower class leading to the class war. Legalizing sales or trade on organs will translate to legalizing organ trafficking, thus disregarding the sacred nature of the life of the victims. Legalization of the practice will increase the number of people dying from practice making the trade on human organs an international trade, thus causing more death than a saving strategy. Making the case of organ trade and sales illegal will offer a way of protecting human dignity from extreme measures enforced for globalization that includes human trafficking for organ harvesting. Despite the need to reduce the cases of a human organ, trafficking the information on the need to donate organs to people in critical health conditions is necessary. On the other hand, the need to reduce and offer remedies to human organ trafficking will require cultural and religious intervention to help provide education to the community members whole are in the process of selling their organs for financial satisfaction. The provision of funds by the international financial institution to facilitate development into underdeveloped countries can help reduce cases of poverty eradication the need for organs sales to sustain one life.
References.
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).
Cleveland Clinic, (2021). Organ Donation and Transplantation. Retrieved from, https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11750-organ-donation-and-transplantation
Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (DAFOH). (2019). The United States, Canada, the Czech Republic, and Israel Act Against Organ Trafficking. Retrieved from https://dafoh.org/newsletter/the-united-states-canada-the-czech-republic-and-israel-act-against-organ-harvesting/
Khatri,M( 2019). Dealing With Side Effects After an Organ Transplant. Retrieved from, https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/life-after-transplant-dealing-side-effects
Martin, D., Van Assche, K., Dominguez-Gil, B., Lopez-Fraga, M., Gallont, R., …, Capron, A. (2019). Strengthening global efforts to combat organ trafficking and transplant tourism: Implications of the 2018 edition of the Declaration of Istanbul. Transplant Direct, 5(3). DOI: 10.1097/TXD.0000000000000872
Mayo clinic, (2021). Living-donor transplant. Retrieved from, https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/living-donor-transplant/about/pac-20384787
Scannell, M., MacDonald, A. E., Berger, A., & Boyer, N. (2018). Human trafficking: How nurses can make a difference. Journal of forensic nursing, 14(2), 117-121.
Srour, M. (2018). Human Trafficking for Organs: Ending abuse of the Poorest.
United Nations. (2018). Global Report on Trafficking in Persons. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved from https://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/glotip/2018/GLOTiP_2018_BOOK_web_small.pdf
