Tales from the Organ Trade
AP Festival Version - PAL- Transcript
July 25, 2013
01:00:00 - Program Start
01:00:11:12
It is one of the great miracles of modern medicine, the saving of a dying patient with a transplanted body part.
01:00:23:03
But there is a worldwide shortage of organs and a surplus of poor people who believe that the solution to their suffering is not to receive an organ, but to sell one.
01:00:40:01
[OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE - GFX]
HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS, SHAW MEDIA AND CANAL D PRESENT
AN ASSOCIATED PRODUCERS PRODUCTION
A FILM BY RIC ESTHER BIENSTOCK
TALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE
01:01:03:13
Card 1
In the black market, there are buyers and sellers for nearly every expendable organ and tissue - corneas, eggs, slices of the human liver.
01:01:05:06
But in the body parts business the best seller - by far - is the kidney.
01:01:14:19
[OPENING TITLE SEQUENCE cont'd - GFX]
NARRATED BY DAVID CRONENBERG
01:01:21:21
SUPER: Manila, Philippines
01:01:30:13
Joboy, a 44-year-old husband and father yearns to lift his family from abject poverty.
01:01:39:04
He has decided to sell one of his kidneys.
01:01:43:10
His home is a crawl space under someone else's shack.
01:01:49:03
It's too small to stand up in. And there's no electricity.
01:01:54:10
Joboy: One of the reasons that I've decided to do something illegal and against the Lord's wishes is this house of mine, it's got to be fixed up. My two teenage sons are growing up and I want them to live in a house that's comfortable, where they can stand up when they're inside. That's all I'm aiming for.
01:02:39:19
In the Philippines, like almost everywhere else on earth, selling a part of your body is illegal.
01:02:46:10
The result is a flourishing black market, run by backstreet brokers like Diane.
01:02:49:21
SUPER: Diane Organ Broker
01:02:53:01
Like most brokers, Diane sold one of her own kidneys and served as the agent for a dozen members of her extended family when they sold theirs.
01:03:02:01
Diane: There's Edwin, Lorenzo, Anne-Anne, Celedonio, Jodilito, my eldest Joselito, and Yap.
01:03:15:07
Diane has offered Joboy two thousand five hundred dollars, double what he'd earn from unskilled labour in a year.
01:03:23:19
Diane: I now have a group of six people who are ready to donate. They are Type A, Type B, Type O, and AB.
01:03:37:20
All they need now is someone who is desperately ill.
01:03:43:21
Every year, all over the world, thousands of people like Joboy make the same decision.
01:03:51:17
50 years ago it wasn't possible to take one kidney from another to save a life. Now it's almost routine.
01:04:00:00
We are born with two. With proper care, we can live and thrive with one.
01:04:07:11
But the demand for this organ far exceeds the supply, so many desperate patients turn to the black market where, in some countries, you can pick up a kidney for the price of a laptop.
CUT TO TORONTO
01:04:24:05
SUPER: Toronto Canada
01:04:30:00
Mary Jo Vradis: I was diagnosed at 21 that I had kidney failure. Generally when this happens, it happens when you're older. Of course you go into denial and you think, ‘No way, this can't be happening to me'. I'm just trying to live...
01:04:44:20
SUPER: Mary Jo Vradis
Mary Jo Vradis: ...the life I think I would have lived if this didn't happen.
01:04:50:20
Mary Jo has been waiting for a kidney transplant for 6 years.
01:04:56:00
She's kept alive on dialysis.
01:04:59:10
Mary Jo Vradis: Dialysis, what it does is, I mean it cleans your blood but it's not just taking out the toxins, it's taking out everything. So, anything good that's in your body as well comes out at the same time. So, you know, you're wiped out. When you get off you're completely wiped out, so it...I mean, it takes its toll.
Mary Jo Vradis: Sorry Hun, I locked it.
Jim Morrison: Oh that's okay.
Mary Jo Vradis: I've got stuff happening all the time. I've got a 3-year-old kid who's got special needs. I've got a husband, I've got a house, I've got a career. If I want to do the things I've always wanted to do. I still want to travel, I want to... I want to live my life.
01:05:35:11
Mary Jo Vradis: So this is my dialysis machine.
Mary Jo Vradis: Doing dialysis is a very traumatizing experience for anybody. It took me, I'd say at least a good year to really get used to sticking sharp needles in my arm. You have to do dialysis every other day. It just changes you. It changes the way you look at things; it changes your way of life, your perspective on things and how you would do things normally. This one hurts.
01:06:17:20
Mary Jo Vradis: You can't stay on this machine forever. It doesn't do what a kidney does. Some days I think, ‘God, how much longer am I going to have to do this?' I would love to have a living donor if that was possible. This is it, unless somebody offers me a kidney, or unless, uh... a cadaver becomes available. This is what keeps me alive.
01:06:48:21
CUT TO DENVER
01:06:50:04
SUPER: Denver USA
01:06:56:08
Walter Rassbach: There's no point in having a bad attitude.
01:06:58:18
SUPER: Walter Rassbach
Walter Rassback: You put up with what you have to put up with and there's no point in complaining about it. It's a matter of just uh... what you have to deal with.
01:07:12:20
Walter Rassbach: I'm effectively between a rock and a hard place. If I can get a transplant in the next year or two, I will probably live another 20, 25 years. If I, you know, don't manage to maintain my health long enough to get a transplant and they take me off the transplant list, I'll be dead in 8 years, probably. It's not living, um... it's existing.
01:07:38:02
Dr. Thomas Mooney: So Walter, how long...
01:07:39:03
SUPER: Dr. Thomas Mooney Nephrologist
Dr. Thomas Mooney: ...have you been on the transplant list already?
Walter Rassbach: Uh... almost 2 years.
Dr. Thomas Mooney: Wow.
Walter Rassbach: What do I have, probably 2 or 3 years before I probably have problems?
Dr. Thomas Mooney: Currently, people that have... were put on the transplant list that at the time you were, they're waiting anywhere from 4 to 5 years for a kidney to become available unless they have a living donor.
Walter Rassbach: Right.
01:08:04:14
Dr. Thomas Mooney: Patients who are on dialysis have an increased mortality. And that mortality hasn't changed in the last 15, 20 years. As a doctor, if you're in a clinic of a hundred people that you're treating, 20 of those people are going to die each year.
Walter Rassbach: I effectively have to decide at this point whether, you know, if I can't find a donor in this country fairly soon, I have to decide whether I'm willing to take on my soul, the ethical burden of purchasing a kidney from somebody. Or choose to die. And that is really the choice I'm facing.
01:08:44:12
Nancy Rassbach: Waiting for him to get to...
01:08:46:00
SUPER: Nancy Rassbach
Nancy Rassbach: ...the top of the list of...
Walter Rassbach: Which I ain't going to make.
Nancy Rassbach: ...of transplant, uh... cadaver transplants, just doesn't seem like it's going to happen. And you know, it's, yeah, I mean a foreign situation obviously would not be our first choice but at this point it looks like it may be our only choice.
01:09:06:16
CUT TO TORONTO:
01:09:08:10
In Toronto, Raul Fain already made the choice that Walter is considering. He mortgaged his house, went overseas and paid $100,000 for a kidney.
01:09:19:24
Raul Fain: ... Where was this...
01:09:20:09
SUPER: Raul and Rachel Fain
Raul Fain: ...minaret, downtown?
Rachel Fain: Across from the hotel.
Raul Fain: Oh here is how I look after the second day of surgery and my muscles have disappeared and I've lost about...
Rachel Fain: The muscles disappeared before the surgery. That's what renal failure does. Let me see this one.
01:09:38:16
Raul Fain: Approximately 10 years ago I was diagnosed with a kidney disease. After about nine years my specialist suggested that he's really not able to help me much more. So I started to inquire about doing a transplant overseas. I had one ray of sunshine that through some family members, it was transmitted to me that there was a gentleman that had this operation in Israel.
01:10:08:00
Rachel Fain: When he got the news that there may be a possibility to go out of the country we just jumped.
Raul Fain: And when I contacted this person he explained to me that the surgery does not take place in Israel.
Rachel Fain: Then it was Turkey. Which I said okay, Turkey is already, it's not a backward country, it's modern and so on.
Raul Fain: He also informed me that there were some problems in Turkey and the whole operation has had to move to Kosovo.
Rachel Fain: The Turkey clinic has been closed. We have to go to Kosovo, so whatever we were prepared for we were not prepared for Kosovo.
01:10:54:11
SUPER: Pristina Kosovo
01:10:55:13
Kosovo is Europe's newest country, an orphaned slice of the former Yugoslavia corroded by corruption, and strangled by organized crime.
01:11:07:09
When Raul travelled to Kosovo for his black market kidney transplant, he had no idea he was about to become embroiled in one of the world's most infamous organ trafficking rings - an organization now being investigated by the European Union.
01:11:25:21
Jonathan Ratel is a prosecutor and a veteran of trouble spots like Iraq and Afghanistan. He has now been sent to Kosovo to crack down on organized crime and corruption. The first case to land on his desk is the Medicus case.
01:11:43:23
The charges, trafficking in body parts, organized crime, trafficking in persons, and unlawful medical practice.
01:11:52:08
Linda Heaton: Okay, what are the precise allegations that ground the indictment here?
Jonathan Ratel: There is a growing network of organ trade throughout the world...
01:12:01:09
SUPER: Linda Heaton Senior Prosecutor
Jonathan Ratel: ...and unfortunately the source for these organs are the indigent, the...
01:12:06:24
SUPER: Jonathan Ratel Prosecutor
Jonathan Ratel: ...poor, the vulnerable, and the persons who want this are rich, wealthy, western nations, who can pay a hundred thousand US dollars for a kidney. And they are harvesting these organs. That's the top-level allegation of this.
01:12:23:11
Raul Fain: To sell an organ, it's a terrible thing.
01:12:25:11
SUPER: Raul Fain
Raul Fain: But on the other hand, maybe it's saves your life equally how it saved my life. We don't know and I cannot profess to know what, for what purpose did these people did it. You know so that's why it can never be, you know, 100% one way and say it's bad and that's it.
01:12:45:00
In this clinic called Medicus - on the outskirts of Kosovo's capital, Prishtina - Raul Fain's life was saved by one of Europe's most wanted men.
01:12:54:22
Jonathan Ratel: One of the significant figures in this case is Dr. Yusuf Sonmez. Without a doubt, this individual is a notorious organ trafficker and has engaged in this activity in his own home country in Turkey for a long period of time. He is the surgical...
01:13:11:03
GRAPHIC - Newspaper Headlines
Jonathan Ratel: ...expertise in this case.
01:13:14:08
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez is one of Turkey's most accomplished transplant surgeons and a fugitive from the international police.
01:13:22:18
He performed more than two thousand operations in Turkey and in dark corners of the former Soviet empire.
01:13:30:12
He first made headlines when he was caught on hidden camera allegedly offering a man $8,000 for his kidney.
01:13:38:05
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: I will give you the 8,000. You'll get the money from me, no one else.
01:13:45:04
GRAPHIC - Newspaper Headlines
01:13:46:13
His alleged practice of dealing in body parts earned him the nicknames Doctor Vulture and the Turkish Frankenstein.
01:13:55:00
Arrested six times in his own country, Sonmez escaped conviction by producing consent forms from his donors, attesting that ultimately no cash ever changed hands.
01:14:05:20
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: No money was paid. Prove that this is trafficking, if this even happened.
01:14:12:10
But now the transplants he performed at the Medicus clinic in Kosovo, have him in the legal crosshairs once again.
01:14:20:00
Raul Fain: He had a presence. He could have commanded anybody in the room and the way he imposed himself, just by his, just by his movements, just by his demeanor.
Rachel Fain: He didn't have time for small talk. Although I tried to entertain a few, a few words with him, I said I read a lot about you. To what he said umm, yeah, all the beautiful things about me on the Internet, and you still came? And I said, yes, and we still came because you are the only one.
01:14:56:02
Jonathan Ratel: What really grounds this case is man's inhumanity to man. Anywhere from ten to fifteen percent of all organ transplants are illegal. This is an exploitation of the human condition that has to stop.
Raul Fain: Obviously, I'm biased and obviously this particular situation helped me and saved my life. So obviously there is, you know, I'm selfish. But, but I don't see it like, like a such a terrible thing, provided that it's, that it's done in kind of an honest way.
01:15:25:16
GRAPHIC - Medicus Case Graphic
01:15:26:11
The Medicus case involves dozens of people across three continents. Raul was one of 20 patients who travelled to Kosovo to buy a kidney in 2008. 20 people from Eastern Europe, Turkey and Russia sold their kidneys. The prosecution claims that Raul's transplant was performed by the surgeon Yusuf Sonmez and aided by an international cast of characters that includes another doctor, a fixer and an exploited victim who gave up an organ.
01:15:57:10
To track the sale of a black market kidney, the production team sets out to reassemble all the player's from Raul's operation, starting with the man at the centre of the Medicus case.
01:16:09:23
Amazingly, Dr. Sonmez, a fugitive from justice, wanted by Interpol, has his own website.
01:16:19:15
But does Dr. Frankenstein answer his emails?
01:16:23:12
CUT TO PHILIPPINES:
01:16:25:08
SUPER: Manila Philippines
01:16:31:23
The Philippines was once a prime destination for foreign patients desperate to buy a kidney, but with the global crackdown on organ trafficking, it's now affluent Philippinos who drive the trade.
01:16:46:24
Diane: I got a text message from the doctor on my cell and this is what it says...
01:16:53:05
Diane gets word that a transplant is imminent.
01:16:57:00
She keeps a roster of potential organ sellers so that surgeons have a choice. Joboy has competition.
01:17:07:04
Eddieboy is a 22 year old with the same blood type as Joboy and an equal ration of poverty and hopelessness.
01:17:21:11
Eddieboy: Sometimes I only make $2.50 for our needs for the whole week - that's it. We have no one to help us. We have no family. We are both orphans. That's why we have to fend for ourselves.
01:17:40:24
In the Philippines, like everywhere else, each donor must testify before a hospital official that they are not being coerced and that they are motivated strictly by altruism, not financial gain.
01:17:52:07
Interviewer: Is there anyone who's forcing you?
Goatee boy: No one, it was me.
01:17:58:10
To prevent abuse, Philippine law requires that a donor have a relationship with the recipient.
01:18:05:07
This is the loophole that will get Diane's candidates through their interview.
01:18:11:16
Diane: It's like this Eddieboy, you should say to him, "They're my mom's employer." So your mom suggested that you donate and you agreed. So what will you say? I'm coaching you on what to say when you're being questioned.
01:18:35:00
It takes Eddieboy a while to catch on. But Diane has too much at stake to let him fail.
01:18:40:08
Eddieboy: Okay ask again.
Dianne: When the doctor asks how you know the recipient, you'll say...?
Eddieboy: They're my mom's employer, that's why I'm donating my kidney and to help someone and prolong their life.
01:19:03:05
Joboy is a quicker study.
01:19:06:00
Diane: Don't forget what I told you to say. Because what the interviewer will say, is that you're lying about not getting paid.
Joboy: Just a little mistake and you've already failed.
Diane: So don't change anything. Just stick to what I've told you.
01:19:30:22
Now, for Eddieboy and Joboy, it's just a waiting game.
01:19:53:03
A few days later, there's a call from the hospital.
01:19:57:07
Diane: The doctor told me to replace Joboy. They prefer Eddieboy because he's younger.
01:20:11:06
Diane tells Joboy the news.
01:20:15:20
Joboy: What about me? Now I'm stuck. I should have gone first, before him. It's wrong.
01:20:35:22
Eddieboy: I'm going to get my kidney taken out because I need to lift my family out of poverty. I plan to go back to the country and build a house there and I'll buy a piece of land and raise pigs and chickens.
01:21:01:10
Bernadette: I understand why my husband is doing this. Others will not understand because they haven't experienced the hardship of being poor. Their situation is different from ours. That's all I have to say.
01:21:15:17
CUT TO DENVER
01:21:22:15
SUPER: Denver USA
01:21:26:14
Nancy Rassbach: I really think we should look at other alternatives.
Walter Rassbach: Yeah well.
Nancy Rassbach: So Laura, I appreciate that you know, in your...
01:21:33:09
SUPER: Laura Rassbach Walter's daughter
Nancy Rassbach: ...situation you don't really feel that you...
Laura Rassbach: Sure.
Nancy Rassbach: ...could be a donor, but I obviously have mixed feelings. If she were to suddenly have a change of heart and say "yes" a...
Laura Rassbach: What an enormous relief it would be for everyone.
Walter Rassbach: Yeah.
Nancy Rassbach: Yeah, I mean I think it'd be marvelous. On the other hand, I don't blame her at all for, you know, making the decision that she's made.
01:21:54:10
Laura Rassbach: It's not even a rational decision really, it's a... this is a piece of my body and I'm not going to give it away.
Walter Rassbach: Well I understand that, well... I know.
Laura Rassbach: I mean surgery is scary, and things are scary, and I've got lots of rational reasons, but the actual reason is just that it bothers me, the idea.
Walter Rassbach: I know, I know. It would bother me too.
Laura Rassbach: Yeah.
Walter Rassbach: And you damn well know that you know that we would have done anything for you when you were growing up, and you'll do the same for your kids.
Laura Rassbach: No, I could have told you already that that would be, of course that would be different.
Walter Rassbach: Right, well.
01:22:27:13
Laura Rassbach: I'm not an idiot, of course that would be different. You know, I mean, it's my parents, they've done lots of things for me, it seems like I ought to be able to do something for them and I do things for them, but you know, this is something that my father actually needs and to feel like it's not something that I'm willing to do... If it were something I couldn't do, I would feel less guilty. But it being something that I'm not willing to do, I've made a decision not to help...
01:23:03:12
Walter Rassbach: I mean, I really only have 3 choices at this point, okay? I either get a transplant overseas, I get a transplant in this country, or I die.
01:23:15:00
Laura Rassbach: It feels to me as though going overseas and taking an organ from somebody for money, again especially because that's something that I wouldn't be comfortable doing.
Walter Rassbach: Yeah, is using ‘em.
Laura Rassbach: Is... and taking advantage of their poverty, which is something that is, I mean it's wrong.
Walter Rassbach: Right. I agree, I mean there's no argument. And the fact that other people in this country can't afford to do this kind of thing is unfair.
Laura Rassbach: Sure.
Nancy Rassbach: But life is unfair.
Laura Rassbach: I know, and I know that life is unfair.
Nancy Rassbach: You know, rich people get things that poor people don't. That's the way the world works.
Laura Rassbach: Sure, but...
Walter Rassbach: That's true. I wish we were rich.
Nancy Rassbach: Well whatever, but you know what I mean.
Laura Rassbach: It's, it's the choosing to take advantage of it that's so uncomfortable, you know.
Nancy Rassbach: I just don't see that there's a lot of choice.
01:24:05:10
CUT TO TORONTO
01:24:06:09
SUPER: Toronto CANADA
01:24:13:18
Mary Jo Vradis: My family's riddled with kidney disease. My mom's been on the machine for 18 years.
01:24:20:11
SUPER: Mary Jo Vradis
01:24:26:19
Mary Jo Vradis: There she is. She doesn't look like the same person, I mean if you ask anybody who knew her 10 years ago and they saw her now, they wouldn't recognize her. The change has been that dramatic.
Marie Vradis: "Hey"
Mary Jo Vradis: "Hi."
Marie Vradis: "How's Alexander?"
Mary Jo Vradis: "He's good."
Mary Jo Vradis: She's tired and her body is broken down in many ways and dialysis has just crippled her. She's only 53.
Mary Jo Vradis: "I didn't park very close, do you want me to park closer?"
01:25:00:00
SUPER: Nick Vradis
01:25:00:07
Mary Jo Vradis: My brother started dialysis 3 years ago as well. My mom developed bone disease, her hair started falling out, like she just... it's just been one thing after another for the past 18 years. I just don't want to see myself go down the same path my mom has, where you know, you just degenerate, your body just starts to fall apart after a while.
01:25:24:12
Marie Ceci: If my...
01:25:24:22
SUPER: Marie Ceci
Marie Ceci: ...kids could have a transplant, it would be a new beginning. My daughter's been on dialysis about 6 years and my son, 3. So if there's a kidney out there, give it to my kids before me because I really want them to, I really want them that gift.
01:25:47:03
Nick Vradis: I've got this cool technology, it's the latest, you know? You see, what I do is, I uh...in, out. So, you know, it's like a faucet.
Mary Jo Vradis: There's, there's two lines there.
Nick Vradis: There's two lines.
Mary Jo Vradis: It's in his jugular, and that's what he lives with everyday. Like, he can't have a shower. The benefits of having that, like he said, like you don't have to put needles in your arms everyday, you just hook up and you're good.
Nick Vradis: Let's compare, let's compare, you show them your arm and then we'll compare.
Nick Vradis: Ok, this is what terrifies me.
Marie Ceci: You wanna see an old pro?
Mary Jo Vradis: This is 20 years.
Nick Vradis: Look at this. This is the choice I had, you know? They told me I had a week to live and this is what I knew would happen to me if they started sticking me.
Marie Ceci: This is what...I used this too many times that every once in a while it just bursts.
01:26:33:19
Mary Jo Vradis: That's when it exploded.
Marie Ceci: Yeah.
Mary Jo Vradis: Before Halloween.
Nick Vradis: At the dinner table.
01:26:44:06
Mary Jo Vradis: I've heard of the black market where you know, people are going to try and source out kidneys from you know, um, you know, underdeveloped countries. Hello everyone, all of you need kidneys but don't have potential donors, if I am right then I have the exact solution for you. Yeah, I don't know what to make of stuff like this. The black market idea scares me a little bit. There's people who've come back riddled with infections. So, you hear stuff like that and you just think, "Wow, that's not the route I want to take."
01:27:17:00
Nick Vradis: ... I could definitely see more people saying, "I will donate a kidney, and I'm really hard up for cash. They're helping someone, and it might even help them in a way, so they're, you...the person who's sick is benefitting, and this person is getting compensation that might actually turn their life around as well.
Mary Jo Vradis: The one guy who wants to donate his kidney is not donating it because it's coming from somewhere deep inside, he's donating it because he's desperate for money, so...
Nick Vradis: I disagree, I think he's doing it knowing that he's helping this guy. Even though it's petty, it may seem materialistic, he still doesn't have to do that, you know what I mean?
Mary Jo Vradis: But if he didn't need the money, do you think he would still do it?
Nick Vradis: Maybe not, it sounds like he wouldn't, but... the guy's getting 20 grand, but the guys getting a kidney, you know what I mean? And he knows the circumstances.
Mary Jo Vradis: Yeah, and that's fine and you know, everybody's happy, but what happens when that 20 grand doesn't work out. What's he going to do? Try and sell another part of his body?
Nick Vradis: Well hopefully not.
Jim Morrison: If our system is failing us, this is the outcome, right? This is the by-product.
Mary Jo Vradis: Well, when something isn't freely available, a black market exists.
01:28:22:09
CUT TO KOSOVO
01:28:24:16
SUPER: Pristina Kosovo
01:28:29:00
In Kosovo, the infamous Medicus clinic is deserted now. Its doctors, donors, patients and brokers scattered around the world.
01:28:38:15
Getting witnesses back to Kosovo to testify is proving a challenge for Jonathan Ratel.
01:28:44:03
Jonathan Ratel: There's a lot of...
01:28:44:18
SUPER: Jonathan Ratel Prosecutor
Jonathan Ratel: ...moving parts right now. There's a lot of different agencies and people involved.
Jonathan Ratel: It's my opinion that the organized criminal group chose Kosovo for a particular reason. Its claim of sovereignty is recognized by some states and not others. We can be seeking evidence in a foreign country that will not respond to us because they do not recognize Kosovo. That is a massive difficulty.
01:29:08:17
So far, Ratel has 7 local doctors and clinicians secured for the trial, but Turkey refuses to extradite Dr. Yusuf Sonmez.
01:29:08:18
GRAPHIC - Medicus Case Graphic
01:29:18:00
And there's another key player Ratel wants - the middleman who made the Medicus machine run smoothly.
01:29:24:20
After all, someone had to organize blood tests and tissue matching. Someone had to book flights and take care of logistics. And hundreds of thousands of dollars had to cross oceans and change hands. According to Ratel, Moshe Harel was that someone.
01:29:40:11
GRAPHIC - Moshe Harel Interpol Notice
01:29:41:11
Jonathan Ratel: He is the fixer, the person that arranges all of this, the business end of the trafficking conspiracy.
01:29:50:03
Raul Fain: He informed me right from the outset, that...
01:29:52:20
SUPER: Raul Fain
Raul Fain: ...as soon as they complete the required medical tests, they have so many donors that they can do the operation within one week or two. And he at a point told me, well, you know, we're ready, we're waiting for you. And I said, what is these guys, I mean, you have a, a football team of, of donors? And he says, well, pretty close to it.
01:30:14:11
Moshe Harel was arrested in Pristina when the Medicus clinic was raided by the Kosovo police but was released on bail with a promise to return for the trial. Since then, he has disappeared -- except on Facebook. And though he didn't respond to messages, he did post that he is in an open relationship and he "likes" restauranteers.
01:30:38:21
But for Raul Fain, Moshe was the crucial link to a life-saving operation.
01:30:45:06
Even in the black market, in addition to a surgeon, every transplant involves a nephrologist - a kidney doctor who ensures that the recipient is suitable for a transplant and that he's matched with an appropriate donor.
01:30:58:12
Raul Fain: Moshe informed me that there is this doctor by the name of Zaki Shapira that is a quite a well-known nephrologist in Israel.
01:31:05:05
GRAPHIC - Zaki Shapira Google
Raul Fain: And he kind of jokingly says, go on the internet, you'll find him, he's already famous. And he didn't really specify to me what is he famous for.
01:31:15:19
GRAPHIC - Zaki Shapira Newspaper headlines
01:31:24:01
Raul Fain: Dr. Zaki Shapira had a very important role of doing the matching and checking all the blood tests and ever, making sure that, you know, which is quite probably equal responsibility to the doctor that, that is doing the surgery.
01:31:33:21
GRAPHIC - Medicus Graphic
01:31:35:22
Jonathan Ratel has named Zaki Shapira an unindicted co-conspirator in the Medicus case.
01:31:43:05
Ric Bienstock: Do you have a sense of what this person did?
Jonathan Ratel: Absolutely.
Ric Bienstock: What?
Jonathan Ratel: Well as an unindicted co-conspirator, they're part of the organized criminal group involved in this. And they are at the level or near the level of Sonmez and Harel. If that individual is beyond the reach of the prosecutor, the person cannot be indicted.
Ric Bienstock: You're powerless.
Jonathan Ratel: The prosecutor can't reach them.
01:32:10:21
Rachel Fain: Dr. Shapiro was like a father. And um... he, at all time, tried to calm both of us.
Raul Fain: You feel very assured when somebody makes a trip and takes the time to come and see you and to come to reassure you that the surgery went out okay and there are no, everything seems to be in place.
01:32:33:22
Controversy has shadowed Professor Zaki Shapira for decades and he has declined all interviews in the past.
01:32:44:00
But now, he agrees to go on camera for the first time and break his public silence.
01:32:47:04
SUPER: Near Tel Aviv Israel
01:32:51:13
Zaki Shapira: The truth is, I googled my name for the first time a few days ago and I was shocked! I didn't know so much was written about me. I don't care. As long as I'm ok with myself and what I do. I save people's lives. I'm a doctor. That's my profession.
01:33:12:22
Dr. Shapira is one of Israel's most distinguished transplant surgeons. In the early days, with ambiguous laws and a dire shortage of kidneys, few questions were asked about the source of his donors.
01:33:26:09
Zaki Shapira: We never thought it was wrong that someone should pay for the kidney he received. In fact, I saw it done between family members, not only between strangers. People want to live and nothing can change this and if the government can't find a way to find them a kidney - to give them life - then people will continue to pay for it.
01:33:52:07
When an ethics review board began to question his methods, Shapira moved some of his business into Eastern Europe and to nearby Turkey, where he found high clinical standards, a large supply of willing kidney sellers, and a brilliant surgeon named Yusuf Sonmez.
01:34:10:02
In 2007, the two physicians were arrested in Istanbul during one of their operations and spent three months together in a Turkish prison before the charges against them were dropped.
01:34:21:19
Ric Bienstock: How many operations do you think you've done?
Zaki Shapira: I think in total, over 3,600 kidney transplants. And the ones called "illegal", I don't call them illegal, about 850.
Ric Bienstock: So 850 times you travelled to foreign locations to operate?
Zaki Shapira: Yes, but many times we did more than one operation. We didn't travel to these places just to perform one. We would perform 6 or 7 operations at a time.
01:34:56:05
Operating in clandestine locations posed some unique challenges.
01:35:00:08
Zaki Shapira: Naturally, the first thing the head surgeon did was go to the police to ask who's in charge and paid him money so that if something happens the police would inform him. I think that the surgeon performed in 24 or 48 hours 6 transplants - that means 12 operations - and after that went for a beer and a swim in the pool. The police called to say that somehow the news leaked out and someone was coming to inspect. Because this was an orthopedic hospital we put all our patients in plaster casts. They came to check and saw only orthopedic patients.
Ric Bienstock: And nothing happened they were all fine?
Zaki Shapira: Nothing happened. Taking off the casts was a problem.
Ric Bienstock: Doesn't it bother you that your reputation may have suffered?
01:35:52:20
Zaki Shapira: When I was in jail in Turkey, my son was very depressed until his classmates said to him, "Why? Your father is a hero." I'm sure that if the same people who are against this, or who condemn me - if they needed a transplant, wouldn't they do anything to save their life or the life of a loved one? They would.
Jonathan Ratel: The truth...
01:36:22:12
SUPER: Jonathan Ratel
Jonathan Ratel: ...is that that organ came from someone and that person was exploited. They were extremely vulnerable and the harvesting of their organ is an outrageous act.
Zaki Shapira: There is no doubt that the donor issue is a very serious one. If it was regulated, then obviously the donor wouldn't be harmed. If it wasn't a black market, if the donor went to a serious hospital to be examined A to Z, there'd be no reason that he'd be harmed. If not, then of course there will be risks. There is a chance the donor won't be paid what they were promised. There are many possibilities. I totally agree with people who are against this on that point.
01:37:07:22
CUT TO PHILIPPINES
01:37:09:10
SUPER: Quezon Province Philippines
01:37:17:13
5 hours from Manila, is a province where the kidney trade has cut a swath through the male population. So many in this region have sold their kidney, they have formed a small support group.
01:37:31:15
Kidney Seller 1: Me, when I did it, I got a motorized tricycle, a house, a washing machine and a TV. The works!
Translator: What about you?
Kidney Seller 2: I didn't get much. I paid off my debts. Got women.
Translator: And you?
Kidney Seller 3: A motorcycle, a small store, appliances, and spent the rest on drinking.
Kidney Seller 4: Don't ask me. I spent it all. I only have my wife left.
01:38:03:15
Bandana: The doctor gives you a paper to sign that says you'll get P180,000, ($2,200) which you get after the operation. But you don't get P180,000, only about P130,000 ($1,600). The P50,000, ($600) disappears because there are brokers that the doctor pays off.
Interviewer: Do you know who you donated to?
Bandana: We didn't meet but I know he's Arab.
Man: The deal was $1,900 but I only got $1,450.
Man 2: We talked $1,600 and I did actually get $1,600.
Interviewer: Do you regret selling your kidney?
Man 2: I don't regret it. I'm fine with it and at least I got to help another human being.
Interviewer: And you, how old were you when you sold your kidney?
Yellow shirt: Twenty-one.
White t-shirt: Forty-five.
Interviewer: Is that what you told them your age was?
White t-shirt: I just made it look like thirty-five, I changed my birth certificate so that I would be accepted.
01:39:24:019
Even in this destitute corner of the Philippines, no one claims to have been drugged, duped or dragged into the operating room.
01:39:35:06
They are however, victims of a system that is unregulated and rife with the potential for exploitation.
01:39:42:20
Philip Espedido: I was disgusted with my life, which was going nowhere.
01:39:47:15
SUPER: Philip Organ Broker
Philip Espedido: That's why I thought of selling kidneys. I was in and out of prison back then.
Translator: How do you guys recruit new donors?
Hernan Ognito: They come to us because they need money.
01:39:59:14
SUPER: Hernan Organ Broker
Hernan Ognito: Lots of them come now but they're not Type O. They need Type O, B, A, like that. There aren't a lot of Type O's around here, they're all gone. If the person is Type O, we'll take them to Manila. When they arrive, there's a full-on medical - everything. And then we go straight to the barracks where a lot of people stay. At times there are 30 people there, waiting for a match so they can have their operation.
Philip Espedido: This is how big the barracks are. Just like this. They all sleep there together.
Hernan Ognito: All the food is free and sometimes the manager gives them drinks. They're not scared of the operation because they're distracted by all the fun they're having. They get worked up, especially when someone who's had the operation comes by and flashes their money.
Philip Espedido: They get jealous, excited. Everyone's in a hurry. "When's my operation? So I can feel what it's like to have so much cash and go home." They already know what they want to buy.
01:41:23:20
The thrill of a quick payoff extends across villages and through families, like these three brothers.
01:41:31:20
Noli used his windfall to buy a motorized "skateboard", the only form of transportation in his village. The fares he charges, mere pennies a ride, sustain his family of 4.
01:41:52:00
Noli: I used to work in Batangas and send money home but we weren't getting anywhere. That's why I had my kidney removed. We were able to build this house and start a business. It was my own decision. I didn't have a good job and I didn't finish school. That's why I did it.
Roselle: I'm not ashamed of it. It was a huge help. We were able to build this house and it helped when I gave birth to our youngest.
01:42:40:04
For all the men the lure is simple - more cash than they could earn in a year or two of village labour.
01:42:48:08
But Hector is one man for whom it all went wrong. He's been suffering crippling pains for months.
01:42:56:15
Maria: When he came back, I couldn't accept that he did it. I cried and cried, saying, "Even though we're poor you shouldn't have done it".
01:43:07:10
SUPER: Maria Vinuya
Maria: "You didn't have to be a donor to help out." He said, "Mama, let it go, I wanted to help out." That's what he said.
01:43:29:14
Hector spent the proceeds of his surgery long ago, so the production team pays for an ultrasound to find the source of his chronic pain.
01:43:41:23
Clinician: Based on the ultrasound findings the left kidney has a mild renal disease. This is a sign of a deteriorating left kidney. There is really a problem. He will be a candidate for dialysis and he himself will be looking for a donor.
01:44:03:18
Hector should never have been accepted as a donor. He likely had kidney disease long before he sold his organ on the black market. His remaining kidney is failing quickly. Probably, tragically, so is the one that he donated to a dying stranger.
01:44:23:02
No one knows how many other horror stories could be told in China, in India, all across the developing world. Yet for all its dangers, the lure of using the body as a bankbook remains irresistible.
01:44:36:20
CUT TO TORONTO
01:44:38:24
SUPER: Toronto Canada
01:44:42:06
It's now been almost 8 years and Mary Jo still hasn't made it to the top of the list.
01:44:48:22
Jim Morrison: I don't how she does it some days. Putting those needles in her arm...
01:44:51:24
SUPER: Jim Morrison Mary Jo's husband
Jim Morrison: ...for 8 hours every other day and then working and taking care of her family. You know, uh, it's been going on for almost 8 years, it's inconceivable. It's wearing on us. It's wearing on her especially. You know she's growing, uh, she's getting tired. I feel terrible about it, I'm inspired by her. Like I used to be irritated because I was maybe a bit more immature and selfish, but now it's, we've got a kid together and we've got a life that we've built and you've got to suck it up.
01:45:28:24
Mary Jo Vradis: I was told I was somewhere like halfway up the list, which surprised me a little bit because when I started they told me 7 or 8 years. Now they're telling me possibly 10 years, so I don't know.
01:45:46:13
CUT TO DENVER
01:45:46:21
SUPER: Denver USA
01:45:51:03
Walter Rassbach: When you were here last time we were thinking very strongly about trying to figure out how I could go overseas, to get a kidney, because we knew that, I didn't have very long, and nothing seemed to be happening here. But I said at the time that I wasn't going to give up on alternate paths. I do not believe that...
01:46:17:24
SUPER: Walter Rassbach
Walter Rassbach: ...very many people recognize that they can do an altruistic donation to some person. There are a couple websites, in particular matchingdonors.com, that have altruistic donors on them. Matching donors has caused more than 300 transplants in the last six years and it's always possible that I might wind up being one of them if I find the right person at the right time.
01:46:40:14
Nancy Rassbach: How many people are there in the world that voluntarily want to give up a kidney because somebody needs kidneys. I think the number is pretty small. It just doesn't seem like it's in the cards.
Walter Rassbach: Unfortunately, a large number of those potential donors are looking to donate to somebody young, with young children, whose life they can save and they can be a hero, but I'm not going to badger anybody. I will send one email to somebody and say, "Would you consider me as a recipient?" and explain who I am and what I am and so on. And I don't know why, you know, more people do not respond to me. Part of the problem may be that I come on too strong, I don't know. It's a hit or miss proposition but anything's worth a try and all avenues are worth pursuing.
01:47:36:20
CUT TO TURKEY
01:47:38:01
SUPER: Istanbul Turkey
01:47:43:16
In Turkey the infamous Dr. Sonmez is still at large. But surprisingly he does respond to his email -- with a dinner invitation in Istanbul. No cameras, no crew. The director travels to Turkey to meet the surgeon. She assumed the meeting would be clandestine but is surprised to find that dinner includes his parents, his wife and young daughter. The next day, he phones the director and agrees to an interview. Why? Because his mother trusts her.
01:48:15:22
Gulgia Sonmez: I think that he has become a scapegoat. There's nobody...
01:48:20:02
SUPER: Gulgia Sonmez Yusuf's mother
Gulgia Sonmez: ...he killed. Nobody. You see, he's a very good surgeon everybody accepts it.
01:48:26:13
SUPER: Aline Sonmez Yusuf's wife
Aline Sonmez: He might look scary from outside, but he's quite soft inside.
Felix Golubev: I think Yusuf is coming.
Aline Sonmez: Yusuf is coming.
Gulgia Sonmez: Yeah.
Ric Bienstock: Yeah, yeah.
01:48:42:22
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: All over the world, in all kinds of TV channels and in newspapers, so many talks about this organized crime, international trafficking and organs and so what? This is pushed by the media, by the press, in every country. And they are feeding each other. I have read myself, with big surprise, in many newspapers Dr. Frankenstein, but never vulture. Frankenstein, yes I have read. I guess one or two times Dr. Mengele I have seen. I'm not against, but I don't agree because I don't see any similarity.
01:49:21:12
Jonathan Ratel: Dr. Yusuf Somnez, he's a very...
01:49:23:24
SUPER: Jonathan Ratel Prosecutor
Jonathan Ratel: ...interesting individual in the sense that he's highly intelligent, sophisticated and quite worldly. But I think it's quite clear that he is a significant international component to organ trafficking around the world.
01:49:39:00
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: From '97 until 2008, in Turkey, for 10 years long I was judged many times.
01:49:45:13
GRAPHIC - Turkish Doctor Arrested in Organ Trafficking Ring Article
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: I was accused, let's say around 10 different cases and each time I was accused with the same points - "illegal transplantation, illegal transplantation". But at the end in all of them I was acquitted. My criminal record was totally clean, I didn't commit any crime.
01:50:05:23
Yusuf Sonmez has outflanked the Turkish justice system six times, but if he ever leaves his homeland, Jonathan Ratel will be waiting.
01:50:15:12
The Interpol Red Notice, an International Arrest Warrant, has trapped Dr. Sonmez in Turkey.
01:50:21:23
The moment he leaves the country, he risks getting arrested.
01:50:26:02
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: Listen it's written here, wanted, wanted.
Ric Bienstock: I would gather it's a little bit annoying?
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: No.
Ric Bienstock: It's not annoying?
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: No, why?
Ric Bienstock: Look, crimes against life and health, people smuggling, trafficking and illegal immigration.
01:50:38:16
Dr. Sonmez seems less disturbed about his fate than about his photo.
01:50:43:06
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: Psychologically to put my old pictures. Look, these are old pictures, from ‘97. These are not reflecting me. I'm different, I'm not the same person. Maybe it's time to cancel this Red Notice.
Gulgia Sonmez: I just told him, please Yusuf, we are in trouble you see, we are very, very sad about you. Please leave becoming a surgeon and working as a surgeon, you see. What he told me, do you know? Are you going to say, to tell me mother that I'm going to be a grocer? I cannot do it because it's not my business. I cannot do it. Yes, and only I can do one thing, I am a doctor.
01:51:32:23
While Dr. Sonmez blames the media for his notoriety, he recognizes that he has been operating at the margins of the law.
Ric Bienstock: Why did you go to Azerbaijan, to Kosovo? You are begging for trouble.
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: Ok, Let's make it simple. About Kosovo and Azerbaijan it's very simple. I am a surgeon. I got an offer first from Kosovo, to make surgery. For the simple reason, to earn money. Being human everybody needs money and I need to work and I have got a good offer.
Jonathan Ratel: Dr. Sonmez cannot understand why there is any legal question about it and the morality of what he is doing escapes him. I think that he believes that he is providing a service to extremely desperate individuals.
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: Anyone who has some brain and some reading capacity, I guess can read and understand the law. According to this law the doctor's obligation is just to check that the donation is for altruistic reasons.
01:52:40:15
Ric Bienstock: If a donor comes from Moldova or Ukraine...
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: Is it my, is it my problem? It's the ethical committee's problem, It's not my problem. I am doing my surgery, that's it.
Ric Bienstock: And you have no idea that the donors were getting paid?
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: No, please, they were signing that there is no money matter, there is no selling, there is no buying, only for altruistic reasons. So my job was over, to see these papers, that's all. I was not getting the consent of the people. I need to see the papers.
01:53:10:08
Aline Sonmez: This Kosovo...
01:53:11:14
SUPER: Aline Sonmez Dr. Sonmez's Wife
Aline Sonmez: ...case because it touched really all parts of the world, it affected not just me but my family.
01:53:20:05
GRAPHIC - Surgeon Suspected Article (Toronto Star)
Aline Sonmez: After this case dropped in the newspapers, my uncle and my aunt, they called and they asked you know that you are living with a criminal because people do believe what's written in the media because media. If, for example, in Yusuf's case, if the media said that he is the boss of the Mafia, people do believe that one.
01:53:41:23
CUT TO TORONTO
Global News: It is a case as gruesome as it is shocking. A surgeon and six other suspects in Kosovo are accused of running an international organ trafficking ring.
Stuart Greer: Kosovo has become a haven in the illicit trade of human organs.
News: These seven suspects in Kosovo have been charged with persuading people to sell their organs.
Global News: The victims were lured from other countries and had their kidneys stolen.
Stuart Greer: The gang allegedly preyed on those living in extreme poverty.
Raul Fain: The gang.
Stuart Greer: The indictment says an Ontario man, Raul Fain, received a kidney from a Russian woman.
01:54:10:10
Raul Fain: The fact that my name was mentioned kind of makes me very uneasy, as if I... as if I knowingly participated in the...in this particular scheme, which really fairly honestly, if I wouldn't have been part of it and I would just be a regular TV watcher, I would be very offended myself of how people take advantage of other people and mislead them and so on. But how do you counter that, you know. You have to go and say "no, I know that the facts are different."
01:54:43:07
Jonathan Ratel: The medical ethics of this are clear to anybody involved in the profession and you have to step over that line quite clearly and the only reason that somebody would do that in my opinion is absolute pure and simple greed. That's what motivates this, is the motive for obscene profits.
01:55:02:14
Raul Fain: There were doctors involved, nephrologists and surgeon and all this, all this people and I think they did it more than just pure money. I mean, everybody works for money. You don't work for nothing. But I don't think that was their primary... their primary motive for doing this.
01:55:18:11
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: It is suggested by one person that I am getting for each transplant $100,000. So until today I have performed more than 2,400. So if I multiply these two, I have an account like $250 million dollars. It's huge money, really huge money. And so I must ask you the question now am I looking like a person who has $250 million dollars? Somewhere? No, you know my family and my parents and my life. Well, we are not poor but we don't look like 250 million dollars, right?
01:55:59:02
The economics of the organ trade are a challenge to unravel. The compensation that donors receive for selling their kidney varies widely. The poorer the country, the lower the price. In India, the payoff can be as low as one thousand dollars. In Egypt it's two thousand. In Turkey, up to ten thousand.
01:56:19:03
The cost of the operation might be ten times higher, but many people get a piece of the action.
01:56:25:07
Raul Fain: What does everybody get? I really have no idea. All I can tell you is there are many hands in the pie. Because there are so many people involved and each one has an important role. I mean just look at the people that I came in contact with, right. So I have a Moshe, I have a surgeon, we are here in a fully staffed clinic with two male nurses at all time for us. So you know, it adds up.
01:56:48:10
CUT TO PHILIPPINES
01:56:51:05
Back in Manila, Eddieboy's operation is finally scheduled.
01:56:59:13
Eddieboy: I'm nervous about tomorrow because they'll be taking out my kidney.
Bernadette: My dream for my child is to see her grow up with a good education. I want her to realize her dreams.
Eddieboy: I pray that the operation will go smoothly.
01:57:27:12
The next day Diane accompanies Eddieboy to the hospital.
01:57:34:04
A few hours after Eddieboy is admitted, a member of the production team, rigged with a hidden camera and posing as a relative, will meet him in his room. The goal is to identify the recipient and see how much money changes hands.
01:57:59:11
But several hours after leaving Eddieboy off at the hospital, Diane calls and asks to meet. Surprisingly, she's with Eddieboy.
01:58:08:21
Diane: The doctor called and said that the operation is postponed due to complications.
Eddieboy: I was all set to get my kidney taken out. I was relying on it because I need this.
01:58:26:12
It's an unlikely story. Transplants are rarely cancelled at the last minute. With a little investigation we learn the truth. Uncomfortable with the cameras and the focus on Eddieboy, Diane replaced him at the last minute with another one of her clients - a man who has just returned home with fresh bandages and what should have been Eddieboy's cash.
01:58:54:18
CUT TO PHILADELPHIA
01:58:58:02
No country is immune to the trade in human organs.
01:59:01:02
SUPER: Philadelphia USA
01:59:05:10
Jason Chamberlain: My family thought I was nuts. At first it was like, you shouldn't do this. Why are you doing this, why are you even thinking about it?
01:59:15:05
In a suburb of Philadelphia, Jason Chamberlain sold his kidney on the internet.
01:59:23:00
Diane Riviello: What you doing?
Shirley Chamberlain: What you doing honey?
Jason Chamberlain: I'm going to go on Craig's List.
Diane Riviello: For what?
Shirley Chamberlain: For what?
Jason Chamberlain: I'm going to go on the free section and see if I can find stuff to clean up and resell on Craig's List.
Shirley Chamberlain: I love you son, God bless you.
01:59:38:04
SUPER: Jason Chamberlain
Jason Chamberlain: I'm basically doing whatever I can to survive. In the course of doing like Google searches I came across a gentleman that posted an ad, in need of a kidney. I thought it was just somebody playing a game so I actually replied to it and I got a reply back. "No, I'm dead serious, I'm in desperate need." I asked him what kind of compensation I would receive. He offered me $20,000. So after thinking about, you know, that number, I came to the decision that, that would seem fair.
02:00:13:19
Diane Riviello: I was...
02:00:14:09
SUPER: Diane Riviello Jason's Girlfriend
Diane Riviello: ...like, are you crazy. I'm like you know, it's a lot involved in it.
02:00:21:19
Jason Chamberlain: I was trying to start a business so I figured, wait a minute, okay maybe I can get something out of this and he can get what he needs. So, it's a one hand washes the other situation. There was you know, plenty of trips back and forth to the hospital, pre-testing, lots of pre-testing. His antibodies and his blood was rejecting just about everybody that was being tested, so it was a long shot. It was down to the point where I was the only match out of over 70 people
02:00:54:13
Just like Diane's impoverished clients in Manila, Jason was able to bluff his way through a pre-surgery interview.
02:01:01:22
Jason Chamberlain: We never mentioned that it was a craigslist ad. But I know they had their suspicions. They were just trying to trip me up, to make sure that I was doing this on my own free will and I wasn't being... you know, I wasn't selling the kidney. I don't feel exploited. And I don't feel that I exploited the recipient either. I feel that it was just something we both agreed on, you know. I, I needed to live, I needed to survive and so did he. So that's why, you know, I'm sitting here, a living donor, and he has a kidney that's functional.
02:01:39:09
CUT TO NEW YORK CITY
02:01:40:12
SUPER: New York City U.S.A
02:01:46:01
Robby Berman: The ultimate good for society is saving someone's life. The government...
02:01:48:21
SUPER: Robby Berman Activist, Organ Donor Issues
Robby Berman: ...encourages me to walk into that hospital right there and say, "I want to donate my kidney altruistically." So the act itself is considered a good act! So why not offer people incentives to do the right thing? What's wrong with that? If donating a kidney was considered to be horrific, if cutting into my body to save a stranger was considered to be immoral or horrific, then I would understand the government saying we're not going to allow that, not for money, and not altruistically. But they allow it altruistically, so why not allow it for money?
02:02:17:00
Robbie Berman is an activist, advocating for a government-regulated system to compensate kidney donors.
02:02:23:19
Robby Berman: So this is the script. Basically you guys are going to be standing across the street and you're going to be looking at this building, as if there is a fire in the building and there's a ten year-old boy on the roof that's screaming for help. As soon as the fire starts going I want everyone to start looking up.
Boy: Help, help.
Robby Berman: You know it's clear to me that if you want to get a message across; YouTube is the way to go. So I want to make a video that will, in a fun way get the message across.
Robby Berman: The kid represents seven thousand Americans that are dying every year.
Actress 1: That's my boy, that's my son.
Robby Berman: You turn around and you say, "I will give a thousand dollars to anyone who will save my son."
Actor 2: For a thousand dollars I will risk my life.
02:03:03:02
Robby Berman: The guy in the black leather jacket, he is the poor person who is being exploited. Sorry I can't let you do it.
Actor 2: Who are you?
Robby Berman: My name is Peter Paternalistic. Peter Paternalistic, my alter ego is the establishment, it's the government, it's the people who think they know better.
Actor 2: Why won't you let me save the boy?
Robby Berman: Because your motives are impure, you're doing it for the thousand dollars.
Actor 2: Well I was doing it for the money but also to save his life.
Robby Berman: Yes, but to save a life, maybe next week you would take a thousand dollars to sell your kidney.
Actress 2: My god!
Robby Berman: Okay that was funny. That's good. Let's do that again.
02:03:39:16
CUT TO KOSOVO
02:03:41:02
SUPER: Pristina Kosovo
02:03:47:15
The crux of the Medicus case lies with the exploitation of the victims who were compelled by desperation to sell a body part.
02:03:55:19
Raul Fain: There's a propaganda machine as far as looking at it from only one viewpoint, that organs are stolen against people's wishes. But I can say that from my experience that the donors seemed quite willingly to do the surgery.
02:04:13:00
Jonathan Ratel: All of the donors have returned to their home countries, they're difficult to locate. We are trying to find these people and have them provide evidence. Many of them may not be cooperative. They may feel ashamed, or betrayed, or injured.
02:04:30:17
GRAPHIC - Medicus Case Graphic
02:04:32:01
Raul Fain's donor holds the key to what really happened at Medicus.
02:04:38:22
Among the documents seized when the Medicus clinic was raided is a grainy photocopy of her passport. The alleged victim of this international organ trafficking ring is a woman named Anna, from a country called Moldova. Raul's donor will be the final link in the anatomy of a black market operation.
02:05:01:05
CUT TO MOLDOVA
02:05:04:11
SUPER: Rybnitsa Moldova
02:05:09:15
Moldova, like Kosovo is a fledgling republic overrun by criminal gangs. Once known for exporting wine, vegetables and fruit, it's now known for exporting impoverished donors to the global organ trade.
02:05:23:22
Here, in a tiny flat, is the haunting face from the Medicus files.
02:05:30:12
Raul's kidney donor, Anna Rusalenco, is 48 years old and lives alone.
02:05:37:06
Her journey to the Medicus clinic began with an ad in a Russian-language newspaper.
02:05:45:22
Anna Rusalenco: I called the number that was listed in the newspaper ad. The man introduced himself as Edward. He immediately told me the price he would to pay. He said 12,000 dollars. I told him that I expected more. Then I asked, "how much is the recipient paying?" He said that he's paying $120,000. From that sum, they would have to pay for the clinic, the doctors, the anesthesiologist and of course, my fee will come of it. That was the deal. At the airport in Turkey, even before we set off to Kosovo, Edward pointed out the recipients. "Anna, this is going to be your recipient, Vera, this is yours." I saw a tall, skinny man with gray hair. He was with a woman with short dark hair and glasses. He looked pale and sick.
02:06:50:12
Rachel Fain: They were dressed very careful, very appropriate. One had quite a few pieces of jewelry.
02:06:59:22
Anna Rusalenco: I felt sorry for him. He looked very sad. His wife was holding his hand.
02:07:09:10
Raul Fain: They seemed to be smiling, they didn't, they didn't appear to be nervous.
02:07:13:12
Anna Rusalenco: We nodded to each other, that's all. Of course, we didn't talk to each other on the plane. When we arrived at the clinic, I saw white birch trees, just like in Russia. The clinic was very quaint and tidy. I liked it very much. The clinic personnel were wonderful. We ate well. They brought us a menu and we chose what we wanted from it. In the evenings we had tea with the male nurses. Some of them spoke a bit of Russian.
02:07:59:11
Raul Fain: I was asked at the time to, to sign a statement that, you know, everything is done quite, quite normally and that nobody has forced anybody into doing any of this.
02:08:09:20
Anna Rusalenco: And we did sign the paper that we donated our kidneys voluntarily and without compensation. The money was paid right at the clinic two days after the surgery. The day before my flight, someone came to my room with a case, opened it, counted money and handed it to Vera and me. I feel good. Nothing hurts. My scar is very small, barely visible. I have no pain. My big worry was if I could continue to drink beer. I even asked the doctor about it because I love beer. He said no problem, you can drink beer. So I do and I love it. I feel normal. I have no side effects, no pain. Nothing at all.
02:09:12:08
CUT TO DENVER
02:09:13:05
SUPER: Denver USA
02:09:14:24
Laurie Wood: This is the walk that you take everyday?
Walter Rassbach: She did...
Walter Rassbach: A month and a half ago, we were looking at options that weren't very good. But I said that I wasn't going to give up and my wife was pretty negative about matchingdonors.com, and then I lucked into Laurie.
Walter Rassbach: I need a 16-ounce....We spent the whole last month texting each other to the point where I filled up my text box at least 3 times, okay?
02:09:43:23
Laurie Wood: You only need one kidney. I got...
02:09:45:16
SUPER: Laurie Wood
Laurie Wood: ...two and they're healthy. And so if I can give one to somebody else to live an equally happy life, you know, and healthy and... that's great.
02:09:54:10
Walter Rassbach: I just...
02:09:55:02
SUPER: Walter Rassbach
Walter Rassbach: ...happened to luck into meeting her at the right time, in the right place.
02:09:59:17
Laurie Wood: I went onto matchingdonors.com um... and Walter contacted me the first day.
Laurie Wood: I think I'm just comfortable with him. You know, it's... he says what he has to say, you know, he lays it all out there, it's not candy coated. And I'm used to that, that's what I'm from, I mean it's like being at home.
Laurie Wood: People have asked me, "Why not a younger child, or woman, or younger man?" I have a hard time with that. Um...the value of his life is nothing less than a 6-year-old or a 4-year-old, or you know, he's equally as important as the next person.
02:10:45:15
Walter Rassbach: Laurie is giving me a gift, and I love her for it. She is giving me back my life. That is a gift that can never be repaid. (he cries)
02:11:03:15
Nancy Rassbach: I'm just afraid that when somebody really comes...
02:11:07:09
SUPER: Nancy Rassback
Nancy Rassbach: ...and asks you, "Are you sure that Walter's the person that you want to donate to?", that you'll start to think it over and you'll... you'll say, "Well, maybe not".
Laurie Wood: As much as this is for Walter, this is really for me too. When I lost a very dear friend, I would have given anything to save her life.
Nancy Rassbach: Ok.
Laurie Wood: And um...
Nancy Rassbach: And of course, you couldn't.
Laurie Wood: (crying) I didn't have that opportunity. And I'm so sorry. And if I can help one person... live his life with his wife and his children and his grandchildren...
Nancy Rassbach: Wow.
Laurie Wood: That's... it's important to me in here.
Nancy Rassbach: Well, thank you so much for that.
02:12:06:13
CUT TO TORONTO
02:12:07:12
SUPER: Toronto Canada
02:12:10:18
Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman: How's life been on dialysis?
Mary Jo Vradis: It sucks.
Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman: It sucks huh? Yeah.
Mary Jo Vradis: How's the transplant list doing?
Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman: Part of the problem is that...
02:12:18:12
SUPER: Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman Nephrologist
Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman: ...the way things stand now, there are separate lists for each of the regions and...
02:12:23:23
SUPER: Mary Joe Vradis
Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman: ...organ donation varies. They're better in some parts of the province than they are in others. And Toronto has lagged behind.
Mary Jo Vradis: So I could have been on a shorter list all this time.
Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman: Had you been referred there, yes.
Mary Jo Vradis: That's a little heartbreaking to hear.
Dr. Jeffery Zaltzman: It is, it is yeah.
02:12:39:15
Mary Jo Vradis: I've just learned that I'm on the longest list in Ontario, so which is really somewhat discouraging and upsetting because I live here and had I known maybe we could have decided to live somewhere else. Like I don't know if we would've or not. It's just, again, it's something I didn't know, I was ignorant to. And you know, you just wonder when it's going to happen. So I have no choice but to be positive and deal with things as they come.
02:13:09:10
Mary Jo Vradis: I do as much as I can but, I just, I would love to feel good. I'm tired, I start early in the morning and I'm done, by 9, 10 o clock, like I am spent and then I have to go shove needles up my arms. So yeah, I would love to get off the machine, I really would and the idea of doing another 2 years is, doesn't make me happy.
02:13:33:12
CUT TO DENVER
02:13:43:12
SUPER: Denver USA
02:13:38:00
Walter Rassbach: God, I'm scared.
Nancy Rassbach: Don't be, why?
Walter Rassbach: Just, surgery.
02:13:50:05
Altruistic donors like Laurie Wood are one in a million. Walter has won the lottery.
02:14:25:13
Walter Rassbach: Hi sweetness.
Laurie Woods: It was really good just to see Walter this morning. He looked incredible and that's great, you know? It's a good feeling you can make that kind of a difference to somebody.
Laurie Woods: You're not going to make lots of trouble, you'll be good, behave yourself.
Walter Rassbach: I know I'm going to make lots of trouble.
Laurie Woods: No you're not.
Walter Rassbach: I owe Laurie the rest of my life. My life expectancy as a statistic just went up. A lot.
02:14:56:20
CUT TO KOVOSO
02:14:57:15
SUPER: District Court Pristina, Kosovo
02:15:02:05
Brought together by fate, Anna Rusalenco and Raul Fain are now linked in a court of law as well. Jonathan Ratel's indictment of Doctor Sonmez and the rest of the Kosovo transplant network has brought suspicion . . . and detectives into their homes.
02:15:18:11
Anna Rusalenco: Our Moldovan police tracked me down. When they brought me to the police...
02:15:24:15
SUPER: Anna Rusalenco
Anna Rusalenco: ...station, they sat me down at the interrogation table. The cop sat right across from me. He towered over me, leaned on his hands and started shouting at me.
02:15:33:11
Raul Fain: I had a visit...
02:15:34:04
SUPER: Raul Fain
Raul Fain: ...from the RCMP, which informed me that they are acting on behalf of Interpol.
02:15:40:00
Anna Rusalenco: They tried to pressure me. They wanted me to help them to build a case against that "so-called illegal operation". They wanted me to say that they grabbed all the money and paid us only pennies. I said, "I won't sign that kind of stuff". I told them that it was all done voluntarily.
02:15:56:18
Raul Fain: There were always surprise type visits and not finding me home, spreading their business cards to all my neighbours and telling them, I'm looking for Mr. Fain, do you know where he is and so on and so forth. I found this method a little bit disconcerting.
02:16:12:15
Anna Rusalenco: I thought he was going to punch me. With our system they could have thrown me in jail.
02:16:24:01
Raul Fain: I had no choice but to give a testimony or I would have faced a jail sentence.
02:16:29:03
Dr. Yusuf Sonmez: They are circling me, yes, they are... it's like strangulation, right? Even you feel that it's impossible to breathe free. So I know the solution, it's very simple. Who is the surgeon without complications? The one who is not doing surgery. So that's it, this is my solution. If I don't move my finger, it's solved. So I don't do transplantation and that's finished.
02:16:57:06
Zaki Shapira: When I know I can save a man's life, should I tell him I can't because it's illegal? How can I? I can do it, I have the connections, I can send them to the right places. Because it's illegal you have to die? What is this? It's impossible!
02:17:14:17
Robby Berman: There was a guy in Brooklyn here who got caught six months ago being a broker, buying... buying and selling kidneys. And he made money, he became wealthy, but he broke the law and he saved hundreds of lives. I follow a law, I observe the law, and I have left hundreds of people die. Who's moral and who's immoral? I think I'm immoral, and that guy who broke the law, he's more moral. He saved hundreds of lives! So yeah, I'm working within the system, but I'm getting sick of the system.
02:17:44:10
Every year, thousands of illicit kidney transplants continue to take place in countries around the world. In all these cases, the recipients are deathly sick and the donors are poor and desperate.
02:18:01:00
This is the thread that unites donors, doctors and patients in a web of fortune, fear and infamy.
02:18:09:10
In Kosovo, a thrust to shut down the global kidney trade has captured 7 local defendants with the major players far away and free.
02:18:09:05
In Turkey Dr. Yusuf Sonmez - a virtuoso labeled a vulture - has relinquished his scalpel.
02:18:26:10
In Israel, Zaki Shapira - an unrepentant pioneer - has quietly retired.
02:18:33:03
In Canada, Raul lives; in Moldova, Anna survives.
02:18:39:18
And all around the world, the dance of desperation goes on.
02:18:44:05
Jonathan Ratel: This case is the hallmark of a rank exploitation of the human condition. These victims were identified...
02:18:52:14
Raul Fain: I just hope that the donor had, has benefited from this at least as much as I did because I benefited a lot.
02:19:00:07
Anna Rusalenco: I have no regrets whatsoever. On the contrary, I am very happy that Raul is alive and well.
02:19:33:06
Card 1
There is a growing lobby for a government-regulated system to compensate kidney donors.
02:19:18:21
Kidneys would be allocated anonymously so that everyone, both rich and poor, would be able to get a transplant.
02:19:25:20
Advocates of this system believe it would eliminate the waiting list entirely.
02:19:32:18
Card 2
The World Health Organization opposes all efforts to legalize payments for human organs.
02:19:37:13
The National Kidney Foundation - the most prominent advocacy organization for kidney patients in the U.S. - is against a pilot program to see if financial incentives are a viable solution.
02:19:48:22
They believe it would have a "corrosive effect on the ethical, moral and social fabric" of the country.
02:19:55:23
Card 3
While you watched this film 118 people around the world died of kidney failure.
02:20:03:02
Card 4 - Mary Jo
Mary Jo finally got a kidney from a cadaver after waiting 9 years.