organ harvesting news stories on Newser

Scientists: We Can Make Pigs Grow Human Organs

Kevin Spak — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 07:53:21 CDT

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 researchers...

5 Doctors Charged in Organ Trafficking Scheme

bewilderbeast — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:05:42 CDT

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

Drew Nelles — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:09:23 CDT

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

Rob Quinn — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 11:45:39 CDT

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

Rob Quinn — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:11:00 CST

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

NewsDude — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:41:06 CDT

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 organ...

Transplant Doc Accused of Quickening Patient's Death

Caroline Zimmerman — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:56:54 CDT

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

Peter Fearon — Wed, 09 May 2007 10:58:02 CDT

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

Peter Fearon — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 11:24:50 CDT

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 suffered a catastrophic...