Desperate Arrangements

Forbes Richard C. Morais January 29, 2007

The demand for transplants can’t be met by altruistic organ banks, so Internet brokers are stepping into the breach. It’s not a pretty picture.

From his modest ranch home in the hills of Sun Valley, Calif., filled with didgeridoos picked up in Australia and German shepherd puppies, James Cohan, 66, sells organ transplant brokering services to the desperate. His customers face certain death if their diseased organs aren’t quickly swapped out. They find him on the Internet; his stated fee–$140,000 for a kidney and $290,000 for a heart, liver or lung–includes hospital and surgeon charges, and flights and accommodation for a fellow traveler, such as a nurse or spouse.

Cohan’s sales pitch: The quality of the organ is more important than the choice of the doctor performing the transplant, and I know how to get you a fresh organ–quickly–if you’ve got the money. “If you keep putting a broken engine into your car, you’re going to keep on having the same problem, no matter how good the mechanic is,” he says.

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3 thoughts on “Desperate Arrangements”

  1. The philosophy behind organ transplantation is obscene. It long ago ceased being a extreme medical procedure to save severely ill people, if it ever was. It has become part of the attempt to enforce the idea that man is nothing more than an evolved biomechanical organism. Our “evolved” mind allows us to reshape ourselves and our environment. The chief mantra of these Frankesteins is “if we can do it we must do it” and the rest of the world be damned. Oh, and please don’t forget to give us our blood money before the surgery so that in case you die on the table will still get it.

    Even without such a nihilist philosophy behind it, the idea of using other people’s bodies merely to slightly prolong my own life is anathema to me. It violates the wholeness and the sanctity of the body in unimaginable ways.

    Also, think if the millions that are used to pay for these procedures were invested directly in the lives of he people the organs are stolen from.

  2. Michael writes: “The philosophy behind organ transplantation is obscene. It long ago ceased being a extreme medical procedure to save severely ill people, if it ever was.”

    That’s far from my perspective. For some years I did the financial analysis for all the transplant programs at the hospital where I worked. Once I even got to observe part of a heart transplant.

    Transplants are done on very sick people. It’s not a trivial procedure, and the real challenge is not the surgical procedure but the medical management of post-transplant rejection and other potential complications.

    People who have heart, lung, pancreas, or liver transplants will in fact die without them. People in renal failure can live without transplants, but a person can only live so long on dialysis. Successful kidney transplants certainly extend life.

    Michael: “It has become part of the attempt to enforce the idea that man is nothing more than an evolved biomechanical organism.”

    Well, my guess is that if your child needed a heart valve replacement you’d be damn glad that such things are available, and you wouldn’t be wringing your hands over that biomechanical addition. When you get cataracts and need an artificial lens in your eye, you’ll probably be pretty happy to have that too.

    Michael: “Even without such a nihilist philosophy behind it, the idea of using other people’s bodies merely to slightly prolong my own life is anathema to me. It violates the wholeness and the sanctity of the body in unimaginable ways.”

    There are all sorts of tissues that are routinely used in medicine. For example, if you had serious knee fracture, you might need a bone graft from a tissue bank. If you had a serious car accident and had to have your face rebuilt, you might need cartilage from a tissue bank.

    In the case of organs transplanted from a deceased person, the family of the deceased often take comfort from the fact that at least some good came from the loved one’s death. For example, the beautiful daughter of some friends of mine was in a serious bike accident while a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia. She was airlifted to a hospital in South Africa, but died from a brain injury. After her death 22 organs and other tissues were taken with the family’s permission and used to help other people. I think this had a tremendous effect on her family, as they were able to feel that their daughter continued to serve others even by her death. All in all, this was a monumental tragedy for them, but also a very profound spiritual experience as well. (It may come as a surprise to Orthodox Christians to know that even non-Christians have spiritual experiences.)

    Michael: “Also, think if the millions that are used to pay for these procedures were invested directly in the lives of he people the organs are stolen from.”

    I don’t know how things work in all other parts of the world, but I can guarantee you that organ transplantion in the U.S. is very different from that described in the article. Check out the following web site if you want to know how it’s done in the U.S.: http://www.unos.org/

  3. Dear Michael,
    A blood transfusion is an organ transplant, a flap of skin on a burned patient is a transplant, bone marrow is a transplant and vacines-through a pig or a cow-is a transplant; even hair is transplanted.
    In the 70es I worked with several leading transplant groups as an ancillary tech from labs to the OR. In Utah I was able to get grant money for a machanical heart and heart valves research group from my company. Untill you have gone into the body with gloved hands don’t knock it. Most joints are fulcrums or rotary mechanisms.
    Sincerely, J R Dittbrenner

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