Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The Invisible Issue of Organ Laundering

2014; Wolters Kluwer; Volume: 98; Issue: 6 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/tp.0000000000000333

1534-6080

Ana Manzano, Mark Monaghan, Barbara Potrata, Michelle Clayton,

Blood donation and transfusion practices

Global institutions, although suggesting measures to deter organ trafficking, reiterate the lack of official statistics about this illegal trade. In this article, we explore the reasons why organ trafficking remains unreported. We argue that the complex factors that perpetuate invisibility facilitate trafficked organs being "laundered" in the health care systems of the purchaser's country, hindering accurate estimation of the problem. The factors are as follows: (a) issues of globalization, jurisdiction, and law enforcement; (b) the power of health care professionals; (c) the reimbursement of transplantation costs abroad by insurers; (d) ambivalence of the victim status of the sellers; and (e) the buyers as vulnerable offenders.