Real Life and Shadowrun.., ..Organlegging on SR scales from Kosovo to Israel! Options

[Tias]

"During the 2000s, Dr. Lutfi Dervishi was the acting director of a small clinic in Kosovo that he ran with his son Arban. With the blessing of several government officials, the pair worked alongside at least five other doctors to pilfer the kidneys of the poor.

Desperately poor donors were paid as little as $10,000 for their anatomical goodies, although in at least some cases they were left with only empty promises as compensation. The harvested organs, in turn, were sold to wealthy buyers located in Israel, Germany, and Canada for up to $130,000 apiece.

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_20716_6-leg...2qf6aa0BI"

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

Great, Tamanous is an actual thing. Just hope they don't have actual ghouls among them.

[hermit]

China has a much more grisly story to tell about organ trade, and North Korea. Until 3D printing manages to produce viable replacement organs, this is unlikely to ever end.

[Sendaz]

Even with machined production, there will still be a market for original parts.

Whether costing for the production for the printed organ or simply some folk wanting 'real' parts, not unlike how the diamond industry tries it's best to stomp out the synthetic gem production by encouraging people to buy 'real' diamonds, thus keeping their prices high.

[Tymeaus Jalynsfe...]

Diamond Trade was always an interesting thing to me... Stupid DeBeers. Good think my wife despises diamonds. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wobble.gif)

[hermit]

Even with machined production, there will still be a market for original parts.

Why? It's not like tissue rejection is fun.

[Sendaz]

Why? It's not like tissue rejection is fun.

Did not say it always makes sense, but it will happen.

There will always be those who can not afford the cost of manufactured organs, which even with fair bit of development probably will not be cheap.

Or even if fairly cost effective for the regular working stiff as it would probably come under his corp health plan, consider those who do not get all the nifty benefits of proper healthcare/ subsidizing of healthcare or an active criminal who might not have the luxury of booking into a reputable clinic for this kind of work.

Likewise there will be those who for various reasons will not accept a built organ, instead preferring original components. See diamond trade reference above. This last group are mostly the ones that make the least sense to others, though to themselves it is probably perfectly reasonable.

[hermit]

There will always be those who can not afford the cost of manufactured organs, which even with fair bit of development probably will not be cheap.

It's not like natural organs stay usable for a long time. I doubt the profits gained from undercutting mass-produced replacement organs makes that procedure very viable (storage, movement, narrow window to find a buyer). It would need a vast pool of desperate, poor potential donors who are well-mapped genetically. I don't see that. Except in some kind of dickensian Libertarian nightmare capitalism, maybe, so I could kinda see it in Shadowrun. Especially since they have by-effect free immunosuppressants.