Tales From the Organ Trade

Streaming video - 2013

A gritty and unflinching descent into the shadowy world of black-market organ trafficking: the street-level brokers, the rogue surgeons, the impoverished men and women in who are willing to sacrifice a slice of their own bodies for a quick payday, and the desperate patients who face the agonizing choice of obeying the law or saving their lives. Every year, tens of thousands of human organ transplants are performed around the globe. Most transplanted kidneys come from cadavers or relatives of the patient. But demand for this organ far exceeds the supply. So thousands are bought and sold on a flourishing black market. With unprecedented access to all the players – the buyers, sellers, surgeons and brokers - the film explores the legal, mora...l and ethical issues involved in this life and death drama. This is not a black and white story of exploitation, but rather, a nuanced and complex tale of survival for both the buyers and sellers. This is a world where the villains often save lives, while all to often, a helpless medical establishment watches people die. more