The United Network for Organ Sharing

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the nation's only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), established by the U.S. Congress in 1984.

It is responsible for the following:

* collect and manage data about every transplant event occurring in the United States
* facilitate the organ matching and placement process using UNOS-developed data technology and the UNOS Organ Center
* bring together medical professionals, transplant recipients and donor families to develop organ transplantation policy

Go here to learn more about the organization and to find out how you can help.

The United Network for Organ Sharing

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the nation's only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), established by the U.S. Congress in 1984.

It is responsible for the following:

* collect and manage data about every transplant event occurring in the United States
* facilitate the organ matching and placement process using UNOS-developed data technology and the UNOS Organ Center
* bring together medical professionals, transplant recipients and donor families to develop organ transplantation policy

Go here to learn more about the organization and to find out how you can help.

Yechezekel Nagauker in a Chinese hospital where he got a kidney transplant after paying $100,000.

Drew Griffin and David Fitzpatrick
CNN Special Investigations Unit

In a dank Tel Aviv hospital room, you can see at a glance just how desperate some Israelis are for a new kidney.

In one bed, Ricki Shai's mother lies practically unresponsive. Her diabetes is slowly killing her. It already has forced the amputation of both of her legs.

Sitting in a bed beside her is Shai's father, Yechezekel Nagauker, also a diabetic. But he decided, his daughter says, not to wait for a kidney donor.

"My father didn't want to be like my mother," Shai told CNN.

In April, Nagauker cut a deal with a kidney broker who promised him a new life and a new kidney for $100,000. It was available only in China, the donor said.

"The broker went to him and suggested that he become a new man. 'Come with me. Two days, $100,000, and two days you will be a new man,'" Shai said.

Today, Shai calls the broker "the killer."

Nagauker's body is rejecting the new kidney.

Keep Reading...

Drew Griffin
CNN Special Investigations Unit

According to the World Health Organization, one out of every 10 kidney transplants in the world is done illegally.

Most of the time, that means a living person has been paid to donate a kidney.

Figures are often hard to grasp, but consider this: if the WHO is correct, that means today, in the United States, four people are receiving brand new kidneys that have been purchased from a living donor.

In researching this story, I have found that the buying and selling of kidneys is rampant. And although this may sound extremely cold, it’s so rampant, in fact, that anyone in need of a kidney, on dialysis, or awaiting a crash victim to die so he or she can live, is simply wasting time.

It is illegal to purchase a kidney in the United States, but if estimates are anywhere near accurate, four people today will do just that - navigating the intricacies of fooling a hospital and a surgeon into allowing the surgery to take place.

Keep reading

The United Network for Organ Sharing

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the nation's only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), established by the U.S. Congress in 1984.

It is responsible for the following:

* collect and manage data about every transplant event occurring in the United States
* facilitate the organ matching and placement process using UNOS-developed data technology and the UNOS Organ Center
* bring together medical professionals, transplant recipients and donor families to develop organ transplantation policy

Go here to learn more about the organization and to find out how you can help.