29539: Durban (comment): Following up on Kidneys in Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Lance Durban <lpdurban@yahoo.com>

Gosh, I thought there would be some critical comment from Corbett
historians to my kidney transplant post (#29519), but all that came
back was this from a friend who is not even a Corbett member:

  Lance,
    They say that those who don't know their history are condemned
  to re-live it.  Have you ever heard of Luckner Cambronne? He was
  one of Père Duvalier's most reviled cronys who had a business
  selling Haitian cadavers to US medical schools.  This is often
  cited as one of the most distasteful aspects of Duvalier's rule.
  I think you are going to get yourself a reputation on Corbett
  that is going to be hard to live down.
                                            TA

To Kathleen's subsequent question, I was talking about a full-blown
kidney transplant facility which would necessarily FOLLOW legislation
in Haiti making such transplant operations legal.  Of course, as Dailey
responds, anyone in their right mind would prefer to have the operation
done in Miami, but the extreme worldwide shortage of kidney donors
makes that a non-viable option for recipients who cannot wait 5 years.

A formal legal umbrella is needed because there ARE ethical questions
involved.  As The Economist article notes there is a pending case
involving over 100 very poor Brazilians from the slums around Rio who
were recruited and flown to South Africa to donate their kidneys to
recipients who had flown in from Israel.  The mastermind of this scheme
is currently in prison in Germany but likely to be extradited to South
Africa where officials of a top transplant hosptial in Durban have
already been charged.  The sale of human organs is just not looked upon
very kindly by much of the world.  And for good reason, I might add.

Still, I find that I am not categorically opposed to the practice IF IT
WAS SUBJECT TO STRICT OVERSIGHT TO PREVENT ABUSE.  And that's the rub
that would make is hard to support in today's Haiti.  I refer to that
Transparency International corruption index with Haiti dead last.

In principal one could set up a top notch transplant clinic and
establish a booming business in Haiti.  Recipients would fly in from
around the world (but especially from North America) for quick, safe,
economical, and legal transplants while donors would be carefully
screened, renumerated, insured, and given post-operation care to
minimize subsequent kidney problems with their one remaining kidney.

In practice it would most likely be a disaster.  The Haitian government
and unscrupulous middlemen would take their cut, donors would be
forgotten the day after the operation, and the clinic itself would
probably try to cut corners, jeopardizing the health of both recipient
and donor.

In short, before my "reputation on Corbett" becomes "hard to live down"
as my friend put it, I think I best back away from this idea (smile).

Lance Durban