Black market kidney bust shines light on hospitals' difficulties in applying foolproof screening procedures.When Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn, NY, was arrested in late July for brokering the sale of black market kidneys donated by Israel citizens for transplantation in US patients in desperate need for a transplant, it exposed a dark underside of the organ donation Organ donation is the removal of the tissues of the human body from a person who has recently died, or from a living donor, for the purpose of transplanting or grafting them into other persons. system worldwide and the difficulties transplant surgeons and hospitals face in controlling illegal transactions. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 10% of the 63,000 kidneys transplanted worldwide each year have been illegally purchased from live donors, the New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times reported. Lungs, pieces of livers, and corneas are also bought for a price and transplanted into patients. Michael Shapiro, MD, chief surgeon at the Hackensack University Medical Center Hackensack University Medical Center (HUMC) is a 781-bed non-profit, research and teaching hospital located just seven miles west of New York City, in Hackensack, New Jersey, providing tertiary and healthcare needs for northern New Jersey and the New York metropolitan area. in New Jersey, told the Times that when would-be donors are told it is illegal to pay for their kidney--"sometimes you have to sit down with the donor and say: 'It's illegal to buy or sell organs. You know that, right?"--and more than half drop out for fear of getting caught. Federal authorities alleged that Rosenbaum, who was one of 44 people arrested in NJ in one of the most sweeping bribery and money-laundering schemes in the state's history, had been brokering the sale of organs in the NY/NJ NY/NJ New York/New Jersey area for the past 10 years. Rosenbaum is accused of trying to broker the purchase of a kidney for $160,000 after he was approached by the same government witness who persuaded a number of NY officials, including several rabbis, to accept bribes. Rosenbaum pointed to the "strengths and weaknesses of hospitals' screening procedures" for allowing the illegal system to work. He told the agent that the donor would come from Israel, would be young and healthy, and once in the US, the donor and recipient would have to make up a story to tell hospital officials. Shapiro outlined how difficult it is for physicians to deal with each situation. "When you have the suspicion the donor is doing this for the wrong reasons, the question is--what do we do," he told the Times. "I don't have a detective on retainer. I don't have a polygraph An instrument used to measure physiological responses in humans when they are questioned in order to determine if their answers are truthful. Also known as a "lie detector," the polygraph has a controversial history in U.S. law. . We're pretty good at surgery, but part of the medical school curriculum is not interrogation interrogation In criminal law, process of formally and systematically questioning a suspect in order to elicit incriminating responses. The process is largely outside the governance of law, though in the U.S. techniques." "There's this perverse motivation for me to say yes. It takes a really honest person to say, 'I'm not going to do this, even if it will reduce my numbers,'" he added. Dr. Luc Noel, coordinator of clinical procedures in the WHO's Department of Essential Health Technologies, said the organization has been wrestling for years on how to legalize le·gal·ize tr.v. le·gal·ized, le·gal·iz·ing, le·gal·iz·es To make legal or lawful; authorize or sanction by law. le the sale of organs. "The truth is, it's people in poor countries who choose between selling a kidney or a child," Dr. Noel told the Times. "It's not a caricature. It's a reality." Sheila Rothman, PhD, a professor of public health at Columbia University in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. , who studies living organ transplantation The transfer of organs such as the kidneys, heart, or liver from one body to another. The transplantation of human organs has become a common medical procedure. Typical organs transplanted are the kidneys, heart, liver, pancreas, cornea, skin, bones, and lungs. , compared the situation to opening a Pandora's box of questions no government has been able to answer." "In principle, there's nothing wrong with selling an organ, but if you try to get someone to articulate it and what it means, nobody can explain an equitable way to do," Dr. Rothman told the Times. |
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