By Zoe Martina Siegel
Recently, a campaign in Canada has been pushing for an opt-out system for organ donation – under such a policy, consent is presumed unless an individual has specifically opted out. Bill Barrable, who was the chief executive officer of British Columbia Transplant from 1994 through 2009, has recently voiced his concern about presumed consent policy.
His research has revealed that, of those countries with presumed consent laws, only three …

By Amy Xia
Transparency Market Research recently published an analysis of the steadily growing organ preservation solutions market.
The organ preservation solutions market plays a large role in procuring organs. Organ preservation techniques allow organs to be kept and protected once they have been removed from the human body. The preserved organs can then be used for transplants or research.
The two main techniques of organ preservation are hypothermic perfusion preservation (HPP) and …

By Caroline Song
Healthcare professionals Network Live, HCPLive, recently published a piece by Gale Scott, on the current debate on the organ distribution process in the United States. The article titled, “Hot Debate on Organ Distribution Proposal” contained coverage from a forum held by the United Network for Organ Sharing, UNOS. The main point of contention circled around the disparity in organ distribution. For instance, in some states patients can move …

By Abrigul Lutfalieva
Pennsylvania legislators are currently considering two organ-transplant bills. If passed, Senate Bill 850 and House Bill 30 (which are basically identical according to their supporters) are expected to increase the number of organ donors. But a (hopefully unexpected) side-effect is that it might be “easier for murderers to avoid detection and prosecution.”
Currently, there are 121,000 people on the national waitlist for organ transplants. Generally, laws that stand to …

By Zoe Martina Siegel
According to the Global Industry Analysts (GIA), the number of organ transplant procedures performed globally is projected to reach 148,00 by the year 2020 for a number of reasons, including an aging population and the growing number of terminally ill patients.
Medical and technological advancements have led to organ transplants becoming the preferred treatment for many chronic diseases and have drastically increased the survival rate of terminally ill …

By Andrew Rock
In this interview with The Daily Circuit, Ezekiel Emanuel, Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses questions and considerations that arise when one asks one of the most important bioethical questions: With a scarcity of organs, how does one decide who receives priority?
The current structures in place for dealing with such dilemmas “vary depending upon the organ that’s being transplanted,” explains Dr. …

By Caroline Song
The Hindu, an independent editorial, recently published an article that indicates that cadaveric donations could help alleviate the gap between organ supply and demand. The Hindu correspondent M. Vandhana spoke with Dr. Christopher Barry, a liver transplant surgeon who is currently working with the Multi Organ Harvesting Aid Network (MOHAN). According to Dr. Barry, around 90% of organ donations in India come from living donors. Recently, however, in …

By Kaitlyn Schaeffer
If the Scots vote in favor of independence from the United Kingdom, Scottish patients currently on the waiting list for vital organ transplants might be sent to the back of the line. This would mean increased waiting times for people in need of heart, liver, and lung transplants.
Department of Health officials cautioned that, in the case of Scottish independence, the treatment system would have to be completely overhauled, …

By Zoe Martina Siegel
In June 2011, Turkish doctor Yusuf Sonmez and his associate Moshe Harel were accused of trafficking in persons and organized crime by the EU rule-of-law mission in Kosovo. Operating out of Medicus clinic in Pristina, Dr. Sonmez, Harel, and other key players harvested and sold human kidneys. The buyers, often Israelis, usually paid more than 70,000 euro for a kidney. The organs were harvested from poor people …

By Andrew Rock
Last month, Cambodian police shut down an organ trafficking ring that was operating out of a Cambodian military hospital. Nine people were arrested, including the hospital director, the deputy director, three Chinese-Vietnamese nationals, and a Chinese physician and professor who had worked as the group’s consultant.
In China, state-sanctioned organ harvesting is commonplace. Prisoners on death row and prisoners of conscience are frequently killed for their organs. But the …