CASE 1 – Los Angeles

In August 2013, an 8-year-old boy died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. His liver and
kidneys were given to others for transplantation.

The police are now looking into the circumstances surrounding his death at the hospital.
Though not officially brain dead, the kid had suffered so much brain damage following a near
drowning that doctors believed he would never wake up. As a result, his family made the
decision to remove him from life support and donate his organs.

Cole Hartman was in critical condition when he arrived at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center.
After nearly drowning in a washing machine at his Castaic home, the 8-year-old went into
cardiac arrest. His heart had started beating again, but he was still in a coma and on a
ventilator.

According to an entry in Cole's medical chart, doctors at UCLA's pediatric intensive care unit
advised his family that the youngster was not brain-dead but "would never recover normal
neuro function and... could never awaken."

Cole's organs were donated after the Hartmans opted to remove him from life support. He was
taken off the ventilator and proclaimed dead by an anesthesiologist 23 minutes later, with his
family by his bedside.

Los Angeles police and the district attorney's office are investigating what appeared to be a
peaceful death years ago. A coroner's investigator alleges that the anesthesiologist
administered Cole a deadly dose of the narcotic fentanyl to speed his death and improve the
possibility that his organs could be taken. Homicide police are investigating into the accusation.

After his ventilator was withdrawn, he was given a dose of fentanyl by a doctor. She claims she
did it to make him feel better. However, a county coroner who later inspected the boy's body
claims that it was the fentanyl that killed him, raising the question of whether a deadly dose
was given to hasten his death and preserve his organs for donation. The coroner has since filed
a lawsuit, alleging that her supervisors retaliated against her when she expressed her concerns.

This remarkable case sheds insight on "organ donation after circulatory death," a once-
controversial but increasingly frequent procedure that occurs after the heart has stopped
beating. (This is also known as "donation after cardiac death," or DCD.) The vast majority of
organs in the United States, on the other hand, originate from brain-dead donors.

Case 2 – Philippines
On July 3, 2002, the then-father-of-two walked into an operating room at Manila's St Luke's
Hospital. One of his kidneys was removed and placed into a Canadian citizen. The two are not
related by blood and have never met. This is an example of living unrelated donation.

The operation lasted six hours. Danilo sold his kidney for 115,000 pesos (US$2,200), but after
the agent subtracted his part, he only received 85,000 pesos (US$1,650). After being
discharged, he spent the most of the money on a residence in a Manila slum. Danilo's home
was destroyed by a fire that broke out in the neighborhood nine months later.

Danilo, like other donors, put his health on the line to save someone's life.

Danilo gets weary easily since he only has one kidney left. He used to work multiple days in a
row, but his body can no longer handle more than two. He also cannot skip meals since it will
cause him excruciating discomfort. Lifting big objects has also become a difficult task.

Danilo stated he would not have sold his kidney if he could go back in time: "I'd rather work
endlessly than be in his situation where I get fatigued easily."
Many kidney donors are unaware of the risks associated with the procedure. According to
Organs Watch's Nancy Scheper-Hughes, some young kids in Manila's slums were even advised
by brokers to make up identities and increase their age to meet the criterion.

In 2002, the Philippine government established the National Transplant Ethics Committee to
prevent commercial organ transplantation. Their goal is to ensure that transplantation takes
place lawfully and without commercial gain at 18 approved facilities across the country.