The ‘Big Donor Show’: reality TV hoax and real life organ shortages

If we look beyond national organ waiting lists, however, there is an unregulated global black market for kidneys, corneas and ova. These tissues can be supplied while the donor is still alive. Patients on long transplant waiting lists, or couples desperate for a child have turned to medical tourism and organ brokers in India, Latin America or Eastern Europe, despite the fact organ selling is illegal in those countries.

Organ selling involves terrible risks for the vendors. Kidney sellers may have poor health for the rest of their lives and a compromised ability to work. Cornea sellers lose the use of one eye. Ova sellers risk hyper-ovulation syndrome, a sometimes fatal condition caused by the drugs that must be taken, and fertility problems.

Ultimately, the most important factor in the global organ trade is extreme poverty. Only the desperate would risk their lifetime health for a few hundred or thousand dollars, yet clinics have a ready supply of willing organ sellers.

The challenge for policy makers and citizens in wealthy countries like Australia is to develop equitable national and international organ donation systems that maximise supply without violating the human rights of donors.