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India’s Kidney Belt and Medical Tourism: A Double-edged Sword

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Organ Transplantation in Times of Donor Shortage

Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 59))

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Abstract

This chapter looks at some of the difficulties that arise in the process of implementing national policies that deal with organ donation and organ transplantation in local contexts. It particularly focuses on the pressures that emerge from international discourse on organ transplantation that limit the capacity of local governments to think and act outside of the box to address local circumstances. As a case in point I discuss the situation in India. This article is based on 18 months of fieldwork which I conducted in the country. The Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) was implemented in India in 1994 with the aim to alleviate organ shortage. This Act has its roots in Universalist ethics based on Euro-American preferences that have sought to discourage organ sale and encourage cadaveric organ donation.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The definition of brain death, on which cadaveric organ donation rests, is questioned (Evans 2007), and with it the practice of organ donation at the end of life can altogether be expected to undergo some significant changes in the years to come.

  2. 2.

    Gervais (1986); Lock (2002).

  3. 3.

    Atala (2011).

  4. 4.

    Gervais (1986); Youngner (2007).

  5. 5.

    Lock (2002).

  6. 6.

    WHO (2003).

  7. 7.

    Ohnuki-Tierney et al. (1994).

  8. 8.

    Legislative Department (1994).

  9. 9.

    Mudur (2008).

  10. 10.

    De Looze (2011); De Looze (2013).

  11. 11.

    Raheja (1998).

  12. 12.

    Parry (1994).

  13. 13.

    De Looze (2013).

  14. 14.

    De Looze (2013); Copeman and Reddy (2012).

  15. 15.

    Parry (1994).

  16. 16.

    De Looze (2011).

  17. 17.

    De Looze (2011); De Looze (2013).

  18. 18.

    Shroff (2008).

  19. 19.

    Shimazono (2007).

  20. 20.

    Shroff (2012).

  21. 21.

    Dutta (2012).

  22. 22.

    Abadie and Gay (2006).

  23. 23.

    Shimazono (2007); De Looze and Shroff (2012).

  24. 24.

    Sharp (2000).

  25. 25.

    Radin (1996).

  26. 26.

    Rabinow (1999).

  27. 27.

    Shimazono (2007).

  28. 28.

    Mudur (2008).

  29. 29.

    Bookman and Bookman (2007); WHO (2007); Smith (2012); Gautam (2008).

  30. 30.

    Smith (2012).

  31. 31.

    Smith (2012).

  32. 32.

    Smith (2012).

  33. 33.

    Smith (2012).

  34. 34.

    Cohen (1999).

  35. 35.

    96 % of the 305 participants who sold a kidney about 6 years before they were interviewed in 2001, sold their kidney in order to pay off debts. Six years after having sold their kidney, 75 % of the participants were still in debt and the number of participants living below the poverty line had increased. Goyal et al. (2002).

  36. 36.

    Cohen (2010).

  37. 37.

    Cohen (1999).

  38. 38.

    De Looze (2011); De Looze (2013).

  39. 39.

    De Looze (2013).

  40. 40.

    De Looze (2013).

  41. 41.

    Bunzl (2011).

  42. 42.

    McConnell (1999); Turner (2005).

  43. 43.

    Turner (2008).

  44. 44.

    Cf. e.g. Morioka (2001); Souter (2010).

  45. 45.

    The idea of conversational ethics arose in cooperation with Annemarie Mol and Priya Satalkar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium

    Karen De Looze

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  1. Karen De Looze
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Correspondence to Karen De Looze .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Ralf J. Jox

  2. Institute of Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Galia Assadi

  3. Institute of Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Georg Marckmann

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De Looze, K. (2016). India’s Kidney Belt and Medical Tourism: A Double-edged Sword. In: Jox, R., Assadi, G., Marckmann, G. (eds) Organ Transplantation in Times of Donor Shortage. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 59. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16441-0_23

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