organ harvesting

18 Stories

Hospital Was About to Take His Organs. He Wasn't Dead

NPR recounts the alleged 2021 incident in Kentucky

(Newser) - The Kentucky man's body had made it as far as the operating room where they were to harvest his organs when Natasha Miller says she realized a problem: The dead donor wasn't dead. It was October 2021, and she had been tasked with preserving the donated organs for...

He Went to the Doctor, Learned Someone Took His Kidney

Police say they busted an illegal organ harvesting ring in Pakistan

(Newser) - It sounds as sketchy as it does illegal: Police in Pakistan say they've busted an organ harvesting ring that carried out operations assisted by a car mechanic who handled the anesthesia. Dr. Fawad Mukhtar has been arrested along with the mechanic and six others. CNN reports they stand accused...

Illegal Organ Harvesting Is Over in China: Report

China has slowly stopped practice of taking organs from death row prisoners, says Post

(Newser) - Long accused of harvesting the organs of prisoners on death row to be sold to the highest bidder, China appears to have cleaned up its act, the Washington Post reports. China has been castigated by the international community for building the world's second-largest—but basically unregulated—transplant industry by...

Why More People Are Harvesting Dead Men's Sperm

And why US law is confused about it

(Newser) - Ana and Michael Clark were newlyweds on a motorcycle ride in California when tragedy struck: Their bike flew off a cliff, killing Michael and leaving Ana with shoulder and spine fractures. Grieving for her lost husband, Ana was also upset about the children they would never have, so she shipped...

ISIS Justifies Organ Harvesting From Living Prisoners

Even if it kills the captive

(Newser) - The Islamic State may be harvesting organs from living prisoners for profit, according to a Reuters exclusive. The news company obtained a copy of Fatwa Number 68 , which provides a religious justification for organ harvesting. "The apostate's life and organs don't have to be respected and may...

Iraqi Diplomat: ISIS May Be Harvesting Organs

Reports raise fears group is selling body parts to fund itself

(Newser) - On the heels of a report that ISIS burned 45 to death comes yet another claim of brutality. The Iraqi ambassador to the UN is calling for an investigation of reports that the terrorist group has been harvesting organs to fund itself, the AP reports. Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim referred to...

Scientists: We Can Make Pigs Grow Human Organs

Process has already been used to make mice grow rat organs

(Newser) - Japanese researchers have hit on a stem cell breakthrough that they say could essentially solve the organ shortages problem—but fair warning, it’s weird. By injecting stem cells from rats into the embryos of mice that had been genetically modified to be unable to grow their own organs, the...

5 Doctors Charged in Organ Trafficking Scheme

Surgeons in South Africa accused of illegal operations for profit

(Newser) - New charges have been filed in an alleged organ trafficking conspiracy first exposed five years ago. Poor Brazilians and Romanians were reportedly paid an average of $6,000 for their kidneys, which were then illegally transplanted into rich Israelis by South African doctors at plush private hospitals. Israelis who gave...

In Legal Gray Zone, Europeans Harvest Body Parts for US

Ukrainian company accused of gutting bodies illegally

(Newser) - A billion-dollar business of shipping body parts from Germany to the US is booming and may be illegal, Der Spiegel reports. The body harvesting is done in the Ukraine, where authorities are investigating allegations that a company has used coercion and fraud to obtain family permission to harvest bodies. The...

UN Official: Guerrillas Killed Serb Prisoners for Organs

Former UN war crimes prosecutor alleges organ-harvesting happened during 1999 war

(Newser) - Kosovan guerrillas killed Serb prisoners and harvested their organs for profit during Balkan fighting nearly a decade ago, according to the former UN prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia. Carla del Ponte alleges that guerrillas trucked 300 captured Serbs over the border to a makeshift clinic in Albania, removed their...

Case Against Transplant Doc Raises Concern

Prosecution claims he killed for organs; others say technique to blame

(Newser) - Charges against a California surgeon for hastening the death of a disabled man so his organs could be harvested for transplants has advocates worried, the New York Times reports. At issue is whether Dr. Hootan Roozrokh ignored protocol in pursuit of organs for transplant or if he misused, or misunderstood,...

Poor Pakistanis Sell Kidneys to Rich Foreigners

Organ sales are still legal in Pakistan; prices are as low as $1,700

(Newser) - In the village of Sultanpur More, Pakistan, hundreds of people have long purple scars in their sides from selling their kidneys—for as little as $1,700—to pay off debts and to make dowry payments, the Chicago Tribune reports.  There are only a few countries that don't prohibit...

Transplant Doc Accused of Quickening Patient's Death

Organ-donation controversy erupts

(Newser) - A San Francisco surgeon is facing unprecedented felony charges of accelerating the death of a 25-year-old disabled man to harvest his organs for transplant. The doctor denies the charges that he acted without a legitimate medical purpose, the LA Times reports, but the controversy is bad news for transplant doctors...

Kidney Sales Brisk On India's Black Market

Desperate tsunami survivors sacrificing their kidneys, getting ripped off by doctors and dealers

(Newser) - Women impoverished by the catastrophic tsunami of 2004 are selling their kidneys on India's lucrative black market in ever increasing numbers. Wired reports on an international organ-donor scandal in which desperate donors are often ripped off by unscrupulous doctors and dealers who take the organs and keep the money.

Docs Accused Of Hurrying Death To Harvest Organs

"They were waiting like vultures," the patient's sister said

(Newser) - A 47-year-old man was wrongly declared brain dead by two doctors apparently eager to harvest his organs, reports the LA Times. "They were waiting like vultures, so they could scoop them up," says the patient’s daughter, Melanie Sanchez. A third doctor determined that her father, who had...

China Has Change of Heart On Transplants

Puts a stop to lucrative transplant tourism

(Newser) - China is rethinking a major medical cash cow: providing organ transplants for Westerners on overcrowded waiting lists at home. "Transplant tourism" has been a particularly popular option in Israel, where insurers are required to pony up  for overseas operations. But health officials recently ruled that organs should not be...

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws
States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws
Apr 4, 2007 11:26 AM CDT

States Rewrite Organ-Donation Laws

New revision would make it easier to obtain organs

(Newser) - Doctors will be able to take organs from potential donors in more sticky situations, under revisions to state laws on the boards in more than 24 states. Model legislation that's already passed in four states clarifies how to handle ethically complex decisions, helping to alleviate the chronic shortage of kidneys...

Beijing Ban Spurs Organ Shortage
Beijing Ban Spurs Organ Shortage
Mar 29, 2007 11:14 AM CDT

Beijing Ban Spurs Organ Shortage

China cleans up for Olympics—and Korean kidney patients feel the pinch

(Newser) - South Korea has a kidney shortage, and the Beijing Olympics are to blame, Der Spiegel reports. China, attempting to clean up its human rights reputation in preparation the 2008 games, has banned organ trafficking and cut down on the state executions that used to create supply. Now countries that used...

18 Stories