By Juan Duran

In the article, Manufacturing Organs: Harvard Bioscience spin-off is stepping up its production of synthetic tracheas to supply clinical trials. The author talks about a Boston-area company, the Harvard Apparatus Regenerative Technology (HART’s) that is planning to begin scaling up the manufacturing of synthetic organs here in the United States for patients in a clinical trial. In addition, Hart already has a similar project underway in Russia …

By Kaitlyn Schaeffer

The Quebec national assembly could pass Bill 52, also known as the ‘Dying With Dignity’ Act, as early as this week. The Act was informed by both European and American legislation concerning medical aid in dying. Like the European model, Bill 52 takes “unbearable suffering” to be the key factor for requesting aid in dying, and would legalize both physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. The difference …

By Julie Killian

Carl Vowels is one of about 1,800 residents in Wisconsin waiting to receive a kidney for transplant since 2008, when his kidney disease turned into kidney failure. At the age of 45 Carl must endure peritoneal dialysis every night, due to the fact that he has no functioning kidneys.
The demands of keeping him alive have compromised his ability to take care of his family. His wife, Michelle Vowels, has …

By Kayla Santos

To date, there are approximately 1,600 people on waiting lists for lung transplants; this number has continued to grow over time. Due to a low number of donors, most of those on waiting lists never receive the vital organs they need. A team of scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch has been successful in “growing” a lung in only three days. The procedure involved removing cells …

By Julie Killian
Two doctors have been sent to prison for the distribution and sale of contraband organs to the United States, law enforcement officials confirmed this past Friday. Celso Roberto Scafi and Claudio Rogerio Carneiro Fernandes were urologists who practiced medicine in the second most populous state of Brazil, Minas Gerais. They have been convicted of illegal removal and sale of kidneys, livers, and body tissues of their patients.
Authorities state …

By Kayla Santos
New technology is shown to improve the health and vitality of lungs to be transplanted. The medical device company TransMedics has created a machine (the Organ Care System) that keeps lungs “breathing” while outside of the body, allowing the lungs to remain in an active state. The lungs are kept warm and are saturated with oxygen as well as red blood cells. To date, the routine care for …

By Kayla Santos
Illegal organ trade across various countries generates profits of about 600 million to 1.2 billion US dollars a year according to research conducted by Global Financial Integrity. In recent years, illegal trading has increased significantly, an estimated five per cent of organ recipients in 2005 received organs commercially. Illegal organ trade has been defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a process in which organs are removed …

by Kaitlyn Schaeffer
In 2012, 4,903 people died while waiting for a kidney transplant. The average wait is three to five years. Today there are more than 77,000 people sitting on the waiting list with their fingers crossed. Those in need of kidney transplants typically require three dialysis sessions per week, which take 4-5 hours each. These treatments are taxing and brutal: dialysis patients are four times as likely than the …

By Julie Killian
A nationwide representative survey claims that almost 60 percent of Bulgarians will not consent to donating their organs. This survey was conducted among 950 people in June 2013 and the data was analyzed on Tuesday by the head of the Executive Agency for Transplantation in Bulgaria, Dr. Mariana Simeonova.
More than 70% stated that they would consent to donating an organ to a family member. Only 25% of the …

By Caroline Song
Within the United States today, about 119,000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. In the brief expose, “Organ Transplants May be Issued Due to Residence” by Margot Kim, touches on the possibly restrictive measure that current standards for organ procurement can have on potential recipients. The United States is split into 11 regions that will constitute where those organs will be transplanted. The 11 regions are listed …