A new report from the New York Times examines how some hospitals in the U.S. are engaging in lucrative “transplant tourism” with foreign organ recipients, despite long lists of domestic patients in dire need of a donor.
As noted in the Times, Americans are waiting months and sometimes years for new hearts, lungs, livers, kidneys and more. But some hospitals are opting to cater to wealthy international patients willing to pay cash.
Their story is anchored on the case of Kayoko Hira, a Japanese woman who traveled to the U.S. and received a heart transplant almost immediately, allegedly based on her need. But soon after the surgery was over, a charity connected with her affluent husband made a donation to a nonprofit group led by the heart surgeon’s wife.
In Hira’s case, her new heart came from an American teenager who died.
A restriction that limited the number of organs that can be given to international patients was lifted in 2012. Since then, reporters found that about 25 of the 250 transplant centers in the U.S. have given more than one organ a year to overseas patients, most of whom came from the Middle East—with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Israel, United Arab Emirates and Qatar popping up most frequently on donor lists.
Reporters spoke to hospital employees who said these patients were bumped ahead in the line, getting organs that would otherwise go to Americans. In some cases, it’s alleged medical records were altered to speed up transplant surgeries for these organ tourists.
While the Times admits the number of overall surgeries and donations given to international recipients remains low, it is higher in some cases than the 5% threshold that once triggered penalties and audits at transplant centers.
As the report notes, foreign nations do not contribute to the domestic organ pool, raising questions about fairness when there are over 100,000 Americans currently in need of a life-saving transplant.
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