Black Market Organs

Presumed consent essentially says that organs may be used for transplanting unless a person has signed a document indicating that they don’t wish to donate their organs.

The effect of presumed consent laws are hard to evaluate as it isimplemented in different ways in different contexts, with differentresults… depending on the country. Countries like Spain and Austria have presumed consent laws. In some countries the wishes of the family is considered. However, in countries like Austria, the family does not have any say if the person dies without specific written instructions otherwise. According to a study done by Organ Donor.gov, if a system of presumed consent were to be adopted in the United States, only about 3 in 10 (31.3%) say they would sign up as a non-donor and 56.8% oppose implementing any form of presumed consent.

Transplant recipients from the above three methods are often rich westerners traveling to poor countries or lawless countries to buy an organ. This exchange is referred to as “transplant tourism.” National Geographic recently followed a man named, Eric De Leon, that was ineligible to get on the U.S transplant list. He flew to China for a liver transplant and successfully received one.

The faux stories about waking up in tubs of ice or doctors murdering patients to harvest their organs are really doing a disservice to the real underlying truth of black market organs and donations. I assume these stories were made up by those attempting to bring the atrocities involved in the underground trade to light. However, they have produced the opposite effect. As people debunk the false stories, they also assume the black market does not exist.