An Illegal Market That Could Save Your Life
More than 60,000 people whose kidneys have failed are waiting for transplants. Many survive by enduring hours hooked up to dialysis machines. The machines clean their blood, pinch-hitting for diseased kidneys. But they cannot do it as well as a kidney. Dialysis is painful, exhausting and expensive.So 60,000 Americans pray for a new kidney. Some get them from friends and family. More get them from strangers who die in accidents.
But accidents and altruists don’t provide enough kidneys, so on a typical day, 17 people die waiting for kidneys.
Many dialysis patients are desperate. Ed Lavatelli told us price was no object. “I would pay whatever I had to, really … because it’s indescribable to be a person with kidney failure. It really is.”
Tragically, Ed’s agony was needless because plenty of people were willing to help him. Ruth Sparrow of St. Petersburg, Fla., wanted money, so she ran a newspaper ad that read: “Kidney, runs good, $30,000 or best offer.” She got a couple of serious calls, she said, but then the newspaper warned her she might be arrested.
Why? Why aren’t desperate people allowed to use money as a motivator?
Because other people hate the idea, and since some of those people are in government, they get to lock you up for doing what they hate.
mo on July 18th, 2006 12:01 pm
MR. Stossel: This is a sad story and i think you should do more about it, since you are a TV figure! if 60,000 people are suffering and mostly can’t afford to pay a big chunk of money to buy a kidney, you should find a way to let rich people know how they can donate money to these unfortunate people, also for people who just like to donate one of their kidneys! i know this is a big problem, but if we do nothing about it, it just get bigger and bigger, so let’s find a way to help these people and show them that we care for them and we have not forgotten them, i’m sure you’ll find a better solution to this problem, sincerely mo.
Jeannine on April 6th, 2007 11:30 am
I am 41 years old and I am back on dialysis for the 3rd time since 1984. I have had two kidney transplants in that time frame (1985 and 1994).
I am currently waiting for another kidney to become available.
I can honestly say, I would NEVER buy a kidney from someone. To me, that person is benefiting from my misfortune. How ignorant and selfish is that? In my opinion, it’s no different then O.J. wanting to write a book of Nicole’s murder and profiting from it. It is horrifying to me that someone wants to profit from someone else’s misfortune.
If they really want to help, they should either donate to their nearest chapter of the Kidney Foundation or donate a kidney out of the kindness of their heart. That would make a bigger impact on me, then charging someone to essentially save their life.
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