In the United States, at any given point in time there are more patients waiting for a kidney transplant than there are donors. Many public campaigns have tried to increase awareness about how donating organs helps save lives. Kidneys are at the center of many of these campaigns since every person has two kidneys but can live healthy with only one. If more people with low risk of kidney failure donated a kidney, many lives would be spared. To have low risk of the disease you should not have kidney failure in your family history, you should eat and drink right, exercise, not have diabetes, and more.

In 2011 over 87,000 patients were waiting for a kidney in the United States alone. In 2008, only slightly over 17,000 transplants were performed. This shows that the United States needs more voluntary donors. Transplants can come from relatives, friends, deceased organ donors, or a stranger. Just because somebody is a member of the patient’s family, however, does not guarantee a match. Actually, in most cases, the kidney donated comes from a deceased donor. Many family members and friends might be willing to donate but are not a match, or they might themselves be at high risk for kidney failure.

Pretty much every ethnic group in the United States was the subject of racism or ethnocentrism at one point in history. Native Americans were robbed of their land; African Americans were condemned to a life of slavery; citizens of Asian origin were rounded up during the red scare; the Irish and Italians were discriminated against; and let us not forget what citizens from Latin American origins go through today. However, most people assume nowadays that racism is going away. When I was in college I used to hear how blacks are not really discriminated against anymore. Now the focus is on Latin Americans and those who follow the Muslim religion. As I expected, that is not true, not at all. Racism is all around us poisoning our life and sometimes helping kill innocents.

A new study of more than 2,200 patients treated at the Emory Transplant Center showed that black patients with ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) had a 59% lower rate of kidney transplant than whites at this southeastern center. How bad is this? Extremely bad, especially since African Americans suffer from End Stage Renal Disease disproportionately compared to other races. For example, the incidence of kidney failure in blacks is 998 per million, while in whites it is 273 per million. African Americans constitute only about 15% of the total U.S population; however, they constitute about 30% of kidney failure cases. Not only this, but African Americans also develop kidney disease at an earlier age than Caucasian, 56 years old for blacks compared to 66 for whites. So, since African Americans seem to be more prone to kidney failure, one would think that transplant rates would be proportionate to the number of cases. Yet, in the case of Emory Transplant Center, black patients have a 59% lower rate of transplant. How does this make sense? Don’t all people have the right to life? Shouldn’t all people be treated equally when it comes to life saving treatments?!

Amelia Rivera is a three-year-old girl who desperately needs a kidney to survive.  However, unlike most patients, she was denied even the chance to try and find a matching kidney. Finding a donor is not an easy job. There are always more patients waiting for a kidney than there are willing and able donors. But there is hope. After a few tests needed to find a match are done, a kidney patient is placed on a waiting list. The wait can be long and it depends or urgency, age, and other medical problems. If a willing stranger happens to match that patient, a donation is possible. If the stranger happens to also match another patient who is in more urgent need of a transplant, or higher on the list, the patient must wait for a different donor. Kidneys can also come from deceased donors.  Even while on the list the patient is encouraged to try and find a donor on his own as this can sometimes shorten the wait time.  

Many patients in need of a kidney never actually find a donor even though they are on a list. However, they still have the security that, while on the list, there are people out there who are trying to help them find a match. Amelia Rivera and her family are on their own in this battle.

I recently renewed my driver’s license and I read at the bottom. There was a check box that asked if I wanted to be an organ donor. I sat at the DMV thinking for a bit if I should or shouldn't. Then I realized that when I die, what will happen to my body? It will just decompose. I asked myself, what if I needed an organ? I saw it as, what a waste of an organ, if I don’t donate it. I could’ve given someone a chance to continue their life. Even though I can’t because I’m sitting in a box, why not allow someone else to live. I checked the box and decided to be a donor, and to this day I stand as a firm believer in donors. After I got my license and got home from the DMV that day, I began to think as I looked down at my license. When I die I won’t even know which organ was donated, and to who. To me the satisfaction of knowing I changed a life and going through it seems like one of the biggest things I can ever accomplish in my life.  There are approximately 80,000 people waiting for a kidney transplant. About 10 to 12 die every year waiting on the list to receive a kidney. The wait for a kidney transplant varies from month to month; but on average the wait to be on a list is 5 to 7 years. This is a long time for someone who is in need of a transplant and who doesn't have much time left with their life.

What’s an unethical transplant?  For starters, globalization has allowed kidney brokers to exploit the poorest of the poor.  For example, a payment of $10,000 means everything for a struggling family in a lesser developed part of the world.  Sadly, that $10,000 may only be a small percentage of what the broker is pocketing.  Common practice shows that black market brokers receive up to 15 times that amount from the organ seeker.  What does this mean?  The end result is that the broker exploits two parties in dire circumstances.  Not only is the poorest of the poor losing, the organ seeker is forced to pay a very heavy price as well. 

 A second ethical flaw in the practice is the mere fact that one life is considered more financially viable than the other.  Though the organ seeker may be desperate, the majority come from developed countries.  That is, treatments like dialysis are readily accessible and while they may not have a limitless window on life, they have the chance to maintain a certain level of health in order to receive a transplant.  The donor in this situation, however, could face serious consequences if there are issues with their remaining kidney in the future.  If this were to occur, dialysis is not a guaranteed treatment and their chance of survival is minimal.