New York – Kidneys, Morality, and Illegal Trafficking of Human Organs

New York – Recent headlines of Levy Izhak Rosenbaum admitting in the federal courthouse in Trenton, New jersey that he had brokered three illegal kidney transplants are certainly disconcerting. But there is another angle to this issue that must give us serious pause.

The illegal trafficking of human kidneys should be an issue that causes us to reflect upon important moral and legal issues that affect human life.

Let’s first ask ourselves, however, a pertinent moral question. At one point, in China’s recent history,it was illegal to assist in the birth process of a family’s second child. Doctors in China faced a huge moral dilemma. Should one follow the strict letter of the law or should one save the child? It was a moral dilemma that many doctors faced each day.

Now let’s consider the following fact: In this country alone, as we speak, 40,000 people are dying each year because they do not have an available kidney.

These are deaths that do not have to happen. How so? More than 99.9 percent of the population do not need a second kidney. One can live a full, adequate and healthy life with just one kidney. The problem is that most kidney donations only happen if there is a death involved. Very few people donate kidneys to others while they are still alive and active.

If paying people for their kidneys were to be made legal, the problem would be resolved overnight. Forty thousand lives per year would be saved.

That is correct. The policy of forbidding paid kidney donations is causing the equivalent of another 9-11 tragedy every 25 days.

There is a petition on We the People to legalize marijuana, but there is no petition or movement to legalize paying for a kidney. We can sit in our ivory towers moralizing and speculating about what such legislation might mean, but there are parents out there who want to save their children and cannot.

The rationale behind the law, of course, is quite laudatory.

There is a concern that such legislation would give rise to abuse and pressure. People might suddenly feel pressured to sell their organs for money. True, this is an important concern. But it is a concern that, if we Americans put our mind do it, can be resolved.

This is a nation of Can-Do-ism. We can put a man on the moon. We can create wireless telephones, Ipods and IPads. Is it possible that we cannot conceive of a method in which paying for kidney donations won’t be abused?

Here is one idea. Why can’t we set up a system where donating a kidney could set up a college education fund for one’s relatives or a select group of people? Would this not also provide people with an opportunity to give of themselves for the good of others? Would it also not provide people with the opportunity for redemption of some terrible deed that they may have perpetrated in the past and currently regret? The system could involve a screening process that would ensure that only people who have a huge probability of never needing their kidney can apply. It could oversee that the money only be used for education.

Imagine for a moment the possibilities. A drunk driver killed someone. He feels remorse at what he has done. He wants to do something more. He wants to make amends. He sells his kidney to someone who needs it and that money goes toward a fund in which three underprivileged youth are given the opportunity to attend medical school. The conditions of the program are that these future doctors commit themselves to serve an underserved area for five years or longer.

Look what the idea we are proposing would accomplish. 1] It would provide someone the opportunity of redemption. 2] It would give underprivileged youth opportunities that we as a society are currently denying them. 3] It would create more doctors in the world 4] It would provide rural areas with critical life saving medical care.

There is also another factor. The fact is that we have failed to ensure that an illegal industry does not rise to meet the need for human organs. There are unscrupulous people that can and will resort to kidnapping in order to make a buck. The proposal suggested could pull the carpet out from such nefarious people and activities.

Is it wrong to traffic in human organs in order to make a profit? Absolutely. It is a reprehensibly immoral act. Should the law be changed to make it legal under certain conditions? Absolutely. It is a reprehensibly immoral law to forbid it across the board – especially when so many lives are at stake.

It is the obligation of the media and anyone else in a position to solve this crisis to do what we can to get such legislation not only on the table, but even discussed. There is a statement in the bible about not standing idly by our brother’s blood. Isn’t this what we are doing by not even discussing these proposals?

The author can be reached at [email protected]