Please join us for this special screening followed by a Q+A with
ANA LITA
Executive Director,
Global Bioethics Initiative
BRUCE ELLIOT GELB
Director of Renal Transplantation, Dept. of Transplant Surgery
and Asst. Professor of Surgery
NYU Langone Medical Center, School of Medicine
LLOYD E. RATNER
Chairman, New York Organ Donor Network
Professor of Surgery, Director of Renal & Pancreatic Transplantation,
Columbia University/New York-Presbyterian Hospital
5:30 - 6:00 p.m. | Networking Reception
6:00 - 7:20 p.m. | Screening
7:20 - 8:00 p.m. | Panel Discussion
Dolby 88 Screening Room
1350 Avenue of the Americas (at West 55th Street)
Lobby Level
New York, NY 10019
This is a FREE event for Members of the UNA-NYC chapter and GBI Guests ONLY
How much would you risk for a chance at a better life?
This central question lies at the heart of the multi-award winning, Emmy-nominated film TALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE, directed by Ric Esther Bienstock and narrated by David Cronenberg.
It is a gritty and unflinching descent into the shadowy world of black-market organ trafficking: the street-level brokers, the rogue surgeons, the impoverished men and women who are willing to sacrifice a slice of their own bodies for a quick payday, and the desperate patients who face the agonizing choice of obeying the law or saving their lives.
Fifty years ago, it was the stuff of science fiction — a dying patient resurrected with a transplanted body part. Today, it is an everyday miracle. Every year, tens of thousands of human organ transplants are performed around the globe. Most transplanted organs come from cadavers or relatives of the patient. But demand for this organ far exceeds the supply. So thousands are bought and sold on a black market that flourishes in dozens of countries where the rule of law is hostage to the dollar sign. International organizations monitoring the situation estimate — conservatively — that black market transplants generate over $500 million a year.
With unprecedented access to all the players, the film explores the legal, moral and ethical issues involved in this complex life and death drama. What would any of us do if put in the position of having to buy or sell an organ? For each party, the stakes could not be higher.
At the core of TALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE is the anatomy of a single black market operation. This is not a black and white story of exploitation but, rather, a nuanced and complex story — one that compels you to examine your own moral and ethical beliefs. This is a world where the villains often save lives and the medical establishment, helpless, too often watches people die. Where the victims often walk away content and the buyers of organs — the recipients — return home with a new lease on life.
GUEST SPEAKERS
ANITA LITA
Ana Lita, Ph.D. is Co-founder and Executive Director of the Global Bioethics Initiative (GBI), an international not-for-profit organization incorporated in the State of New York in July 2011. She received a Ph.D. from Bowling Green State University, Ohio, specializing in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy, and an M.A. in Sociology from the Central European University, Prague. Prior to her involvement with non-profit organizations she taught social sciences and philosophy in Europe and the United States.
BRUCE ELLIOT GELB
Dr. Bruce Elliot Gelb, M.D., F.A.C.S, is Assistant Professor at the NYU School of Medicine and a Director of Renal Transplantation in the Dept. of Transplant Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center. He specializes in kidney and liver transplantation, laparoscopic donor and hepatobiliary surgery. He has a vested interest in the ethical issues surrounding transplants, as well as living organ donation.
LLOYD E. RATNER
Dr. Lloyd E. Ratner, M.D., M.P.H., F.A.C.S., is Professor of Surgery and Director of Renal and Pancreatic Transplantation in the New York-Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia University. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia, Dr. Ratner was on the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and served as the Chief of Solid Organ Transplantation at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He has earned the Elpic Award, as well as the National Kidney Foundation Research Fellowship Award. He specializes in kidney transplant, renal transplant, pediatric organ transplant, pediatric kidney transplantation, abdominal organ transplantation and laparoscopic surgery.
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