Key Elements for a Reporting Code on Disclosure of Information of Organ Trafficking Networks

1. 
   Be written for TPs by TPs, lawyers, police and judiciary;
   
2. 
   Correspond with domestic legislation;
   
3. 
   Designate a reporting center and include a roadmap that guides the TP through the following steps:
   1. 
      Identification of signals with the help of indicators (see no.10);
      
   2. 
      Consultation of colleagues and hospital lawyers;
      
   3. 
      Consultation with the reporting center to interpret the signals;
      
   4. 
      Talking to the patient;
      
   5. 
      Deciding between organizing assistance amongst other TPs or filing a report.
      
   
   
4. 
   Explain to TPs that disclosure is voluntary and that no consequences will follow from (non)reporting;
   
5. 
   Allow TPs to disclose anonymously. The code should build in disclosure protection mechanisms similar to whistleblower laws. The identity of patients, TPs and/or their institutions should be protected and they should be waived from any legal liability and/or duty to testify;
   
6. 
   Allow for consistent monitoring by the reporting center that will follow up on the information that TPs provide;
   
7. 
   Enable TPs to disclose pretransplant and posttransplant. TPs must be satisfied that their rights and duties will not be affected by the timing of their disclosure;
   
8. 
   Explain to TPs the purpose of the disclosure. The purpose is to:
   1. 
      Disclose information that supports police and judiciary in investigating, disrupting and prosecuting organ trafficking networks (brokers, transplant professionals, hospitals, service providers, translators, and corrupt law enforcement officials). Disclosure may occur without the patient's consent.
      
   2. 
      Clarify the rights and duties of the TPs when they treat patients and/or donors who wish to purchase/sell an organ abroad and/or who return with a possibly purchased organ. The CPS can serve as an example.
      
   
   
9. 
   Describe what the TP may report:
   1. 
      The TP should disclose anonymized or coded information that serves the purpose of the disclosure. This includes data that supports the identification, investigation and prosecution of the network (as stated in 8a). If known, disclosure should contain names and locations of the transplant clinic and/or the name of the transplant staff and any other information that serves the disclosure's purpose.
      
   
   
10. 
    Guide TPs through a list of indicators to identify suspicious transplant activity. Indicators that may cause suspicion and warrant probing of the patient can occur when the patient:
    1. 
       is preparing to leave to a country or clinic that is known to the TP because other patients have gone there and returned maltreated or carried information that indicated their donors were harmed;
       
    2. 
       returns with lack of information about where and how the transplant took place, including a lack of donor information;
       
    3. 
       returns with clear signs of maltreatment such as wound infections and/or transmitted diseases such as HIV or TBC;
       
    4. 
       tells the TP and/or has information in his record that states that a donor, broker, and/or a doctor received payments in return for the organ (transplant).