Her argument was that the actual exploitation is an ethical failing, a human exploitation; a perception of the poor as organ sources which may be used to extend the lives of the wealthy.Economic drivers leading to increased donation are not limited to areas such as India and Africa, but also are emerging in the United States. Increasing funeral expenses combined with decreasing real value of investments such as homes and retirement savings which took place in the 2000s have purportedly led to an increase in citizens taking advantage of arrangements where funeral costs are reduced or eliminated. Brain death versus cardiac death
Brain death may result in legal death, but still with the heart beating and with mechanical ventilation, keeping all other vital organs alive and functional for a certain period of time. Given long enough, patients who do not fully die in the complete biological sense, but who are declared brain dead, will usually start to build up toxins and wastes in the body. In this way, the organs can eventually dysfunction due to coagulopathy, fluid or electrolyte and nutrient imbalances, or even fail. Thus, the organs will usually only be sustainable and viable for acceptable use up until a certain length of time. This may depend on factors such as how well the patient is maintained, any comorbidities, the skill of the healthcare teams and the quality their facilities.
Canada
In 2001, the Government of Canada announced the formation of the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation, whose purpose would be to advise the Conference of Deputy Ministers of Health on activities relating to organ donation and transplantation. The deputy ministers of health for all provinces and territories with the exception of Québec decided to transfer the responsibilities of the Canadian Council for Donation and Transplantation to Canadian Blood Services.In Québec, an organization called Transplant Québec is responsible for managing all organ donation; Héma-Québec is responsible for tissue donation. Consent for organ donation by an individual is given by either registering with the organ donation registry established by the Chambre des notaires du Québec, signing and affixing the sticker to the back of ones health insurance card, or registering with either Régie de lassurance maladie du Québec or Registre des consentements au don dorganes et de tissus. In 2017, the majority of transplants completed were kidney transplants. Canadian Blood Services has a program called the kidney paired donation, where transplant candidates are matched with compatible living donors from all over Canada. It also gives individuals an opportunity to be a living donor for an anonymous patient waiting for a transplant. As of December 31, 2017, there were 4,333 patients on the transplant waitlist. In 2017, there were a total of 2,979 transplants, including multi-organ transplants; 242 patients died while on the waitlist.