Human Kidney, Liver, Heart for Sale on Global Market

The first successful kidney transplant was in 1954. The first successful liver and heart transplant was in 1967. The United States banned the sale of human organs in 1984. India followed suit in 1994; with China coming on board with the ban in 1995.

It is estimated 170,000 patients in the United States and Europe are on waiting lists for vital organs to sustain their life.

Those facing death and their families have resorted to desperate measures to seek help. They have rented billboards advertising their loved ones plight. The afflicted register on websites such as MatchingDonors.com which charge a fee of $595 for unlimited access or $295 for a month subscription.

Washington Post reported Lois Green,68,of Salem, Virginia opened an account with Matching Donors hoping to find a kidney donor match. She eventually closed her membership due to only receiving solicitation to purchase a kidney. When contacted Matching Donors admitted site abuse; they policed and weeded out undesirables "by posting prominent warnings that selling organs is illegal."

Survivors in India, after the devastating tsunami of 2004, sold their kidneys having lost any other means to keep body and soul together. The Transplant Authorization Committee was formed; who took care of all the formalities except where the refugees had to sign on the dotted line. The Police Superintendent investigating complaints of "brokers" keeping a majority of the payments claimed, "out of several thousand dollars taken as commission, most go to bribes, with brokers only collecting about $300 per transaction."

Women at the tsunami refugee camp who bear physical scars of their operation must worry about paying for after care which isn't included in the quoted price. The average pay is about $900; although the original amount promised is near $3,300 in the contract. [ American lawyers would have a field day.]

BBC reporter Rupert Winfield-Hayes approached a hospital in China under the pretense of requesting a liver for his dying father. He was reportedly told by hospital staff, a liver could be provided in 3 weeks, at a cost of 50,000 pounds [$94,400] in 2006.