Vail Symposium Forum on Transplant Tourism

On March 11, 2008, the Vail Symposium hosted the American Transplant Foundation with special guests, Doctors Christoph Broelsch and Igal Kam, for a special forum on transplant tourism. Transplant tourism is cross-border travel by any participant in transplantation—recipients, live donors, and medical staff—for the purpose of obtaining an organ in exchange for cash or goods from persons. While laws vary regarding the commercialization of organ transplantation, the demand for life-saving organs has resulted in the creation of black markets in many places around the world. Of the 63,000 kidney transplants that occur annually worldwide, an estimated ten percent involve payment of living non-related donors, according to the World Health Organization. This event featured an informational forum followed by dinner and intimate Q&A with Doctors Broelsch and Kam.

Click here to learn more about transplant tourism.