Annie
05-02-2006, 02:17 PM
What do you think? Should this be allowed??? I've pasted higlights from an article below...
An Alberta company is helping patients with failing kidneys buy new organs from live Pakistani donors, sparking a fierce debate about the ethics of paying cash for human body parts.
Overseas Medical Services, a Calgary medical brokerage, will arrange a speedy kidney donation and transplant surgery through Lahore-based Aadil Hospital for $32,000 US.
Aruna Thurairajan, a former Sri Lankan medical administrator who owns the company, said Monday that liver, pancreas and lung transplants are also available for purchase from Pakistani donors through the hospital.
Although there is no law preventing Canadians from travelling elsewhere to buy organs, the company's service is generating controversy.
"It's taking advantage of vulnerable people for self-serving goals, and that's immoral,'' said University of Calgary bioethicist John Baker. "We can understand why the (patients) are doing it, but that doesn't make it right.''
She argues there is nothing unethical about purchasing kidneys from Pakistani patients, saying they make the donations voluntarily.
"If you need a kidney and here is a donor who is in abject poverty ... who is unable to provide good clothing, shelter and food for his family, then who can judge that?'' asked Thurairajan, whose company has an agreement to represent Aadil hospital in Canada.
But Kidney Foundation of Canada representatives said they are against the commercial kidney trade, arguing there are ethical and health concerns with buying organs.
Joyce Van Deurzen, executive director of the foundation's southern Alberta branch, said the practice exploits people in developing nations. She added there is a high rate of infection for commercial kidney transplants, noting they may be performed in hospitals that aren't up to Canadian standards.
An Alberta company is helping patients with failing kidneys buy new organs from live Pakistani donors, sparking a fierce debate about the ethics of paying cash for human body parts.
Overseas Medical Services, a Calgary medical brokerage, will arrange a speedy kidney donation and transplant surgery through Lahore-based Aadil Hospital for $32,000 US.
Aruna Thurairajan, a former Sri Lankan medical administrator who owns the company, said Monday that liver, pancreas and lung transplants are also available for purchase from Pakistani donors through the hospital.
Although there is no law preventing Canadians from travelling elsewhere to buy organs, the company's service is generating controversy.
"It's taking advantage of vulnerable people for self-serving goals, and that's immoral,'' said University of Calgary bioethicist John Baker. "We can understand why the (patients) are doing it, but that doesn't make it right.''
She argues there is nothing unethical about purchasing kidneys from Pakistani patients, saying they make the donations voluntarily.
"If you need a kidney and here is a donor who is in abject poverty ... who is unable to provide good clothing, shelter and food for his family, then who can judge that?'' asked Thurairajan, whose company has an agreement to represent Aadil hospital in Canada.
But Kidney Foundation of Canada representatives said they are against the commercial kidney trade, arguing there are ethical and health concerns with buying organs.
Joyce Van Deurzen, executive director of the foundation's southern Alberta branch, said the practice exploits people in developing nations. She added there is a high rate of infection for commercial kidney transplants, noting they may be performed in hospitals that aren't up to Canadian standards.