One of the more intriguing aspects of Thursday's massive corruption arrest in New Jersey was the case of Levy-Izhak Rosenbaum, accused of brokering illegal deals to buy kidneys from living donors. His story got us wondering: how much can you harvest from your own body? NEWSWEEK's Jeneen Interlandi lists some of the organs one can donate while still alive (and, when the data were available, how much they go for):
Kidneys: You have two. You can live with one. As the most in-demand organ, kidneys fetch a high price: $30,000 in the U.S. (in which case the alleged customers of Rosenbaum were getting totally ripped off┴he's accused of selling kidneys for $160,000 each).*
Liver: You have only one, but if you slice some off, it will grow back. Livers are the second most in-demand organ, bringing about $10,000 in the U.S.
Lung: Each lung has five lobes. You can safely part with one lobe, but any recipient would need a second lobe (from a second donor) to benefit from your gift.
Eyes: Whole eyes cannot be transplanted. But individual components of the eye┴namely the lens and the cornea┴can. Some anthropologists and human-rights workers have reported the sale of lenses and corneas from living donors.
Intestine: It's possible, but the risks are so great and the need so rare that intestine donations almost always come from deceased donors. The vast majority of intestine recipients are young children with rare disorders.
Pancreas: Another organ of which you can donate a segment. Pancreas transplants are often done to improve quality of life (by reducing or eliminating the need for constant insulin injections in diabetics, for example). They still come mostly from deceased donors, but the number of living donors is growing as the transplant technology improves.
Skin: For a long time, the feeling was that taking skin from living donors was impractical. Nowadays, people who have excess skin after significant weight loss can donate that skin, usually to burn victims for skin-graft surgery. As with eye trafficking, rumors have long circulated about a black-market trade in human skin.
Bone marrow: Harvested inside the bone, this tissue regrows in healthy donors but is killed off by chemotherapy in patients with certain types of cancer. Donated marrow allows doctors to pursue more aggressive treatments.
Blood: Another non-organ, but blood is probably the easiest, safest, and most common type of donation.
* The price for healthy kidneys on the black market varies depending on the region. In 2005, the watchdog group Organs Watch report listed the following black-market rates for healthy kidneys:
U.S.: $30,000
Israel: $10,000-$20,000
Peru: $10,000
Turkey: $7,500
Brazil: $6,000
Moldova and Romania: $2,700
India: $1,500
Philippines: $1,500
Prewar Iraq $750-$10,000
星期四在新澤西逮捕的巨大貪污案更吸引人的一方面在于它是有關征稅的案例--伊扎克。羅森鮑姆被控犯有中介安排非法交易在世捐贈人腎臟的罪行。他的故事讓我們迷惑:你能從自己的身體上收獲多少錢呢?《新聞周刊》英特藍迪列出了一些人們可以活著捐贈的器官(以及如果資料有效,他們可以得到多少錢):
腎臟:你有兩個。只有一個就可以成活。做為最大需求的器官,腎臟賣的價位很高:在美國賣三萬美元。(在那個案例中,所謂顧客羅森鮑姆狠狠的宰客獲益--他被控以十六萬美元每個的價格賣腎。)
肝臟:你只有一個,但是如果你切掉一部分,它還會長出來。肝臟是第二最大需求的器官,在美國售價約一萬美元。
肺部:每個肺有五個肺葉。你可以安全的分離出一個肺葉,但是接受者需要(從另一個捐贈者那里)得到第二個肺葉,從而獲益于你的捐贈。
眼睛:整個眼睛都是不可移植的。但是眼睛個別的組成部分--也就是晶狀體以及眼角膜--可以移植。一些人類學家和人權工作者記錄了在世捐贈者的晶狀體和眼角膜的銷售。
腸子:雖然可能,但是卻有很大的風險,并且需求很少,所以腸子經常是從已故捐贈者那里得到的。大部分的腸子接受者是罕見的失調的幼童。
胰臟:另外一個你可以捐贈一部分的器官。胰臟移植經常用于提高生命的質量(用于減少或除去需要長期注射胰島素的例如糖尿病患者).他們也經常來源于已故捐贈者,但是隨著移植技術的提高,在世捐贈者漸漸增加。
皮膚:很長一段時間,從在世捐贈者身上取下皮膚的感覺是不實用。現今,大幅度重量減輕造成皮膚多余的人們可以捐贈多余皮膚,經常給燒傷患者做皮膚移植外科手術。與眼睛交易一樣,關于黑市人類皮膚交易的謠言長久流傳。
骨髓:生長于骨頭中,這種組織能在健康人身上重生,但一些類型的癌癥患者因化療而失去。捐贈的骨髓能允許醫生從事更積極的治療。
血液:另一種非器官,但血液可能是最容易,最安全,最常見類型的捐贈了。
黑市上腎臟的價格隨地域而變化。2005年,器官監督機構報道了下列健康腎臟的黑市市場利率:
美國:三萬美元
以色列:一萬至二萬美元
秘魯:一萬美元
土耳其:七千五百美元
巴西:六千美元
摩爾多瓦以及羅馬尼亞:二千七百美元
印度:一千五百美元
菲律賓:一千五百美元
戰前伊拉克:七百五十至一萬美元