Harvest (Numbers)

Last updated
"Harvest"
Numbers episode
Episode no.Season 2
Episode 14
Directed byJohn Behring
Written byJ. David Harden
Production code214
Original air dateJanuary 27, 2006 (2006-01-27)
Guest appearances
  • Jordan Baker as Dr. Jenloe
  • Paul Bates as Morgue Attendant
  • Gibby Brand as Dr. Michael Sabello - Coroner
  • P.J. Brown as Baker Man
  • Traber Burns as Kenneth Eckworth
  • Paul Cassell as Daniel Piermint
  • Noureen DeWulf as Santi
  • David Dayan Fisher as Michael Tolchuck
  • Azita Ghanizada as Prita
  • John Gowans as Symposium Director
  • Adrian LaTourelle as Allen Kelly
  • Heather Mazur as Janet Eckworth (uncredited)
  • Marti Jo Pennisi as Nurse
  • Joey Sorge as Manager
  • Mark Tymchyshyn as Dr. Lawrence Bainsworth
  • Matthew Yang King as Tech
Episode chronology
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"The Running Man"

"Harvest" is the 14th episode of the second season of the American television show Numbers . Inspired by a Christian Science Monitor article about organ tourists, people who travel to a different country to give their organs for money, and an algorithm developed in the United States, the episode features Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and mathematicians attempting to locate a missing organ tourist before she is killed.

Contents

After airing in the United States on CBS on January 27, 2006, the episode received mixed reviews. Critics enjoyed it while the medical community was concerned about the impact that the episode would have on organ donations. "Harvest" has inspired two academic case studies in which viewers were more likely to donate their organs after watching the episode. The episode also has won one award and has been nominated for another award.

Plot summary

On the same night that Dr. Amita Ramanujan (Navi Rawat) is presented with a prestigious mathematics award, FBI Special Agents Don Eppes (Rob Morrow) and David Sinclair (Alimi Ballard) respond to a disturbance call from a hotel and find a young Indian woman (Noureen DeWulf) cowering in a blood-stained basement. Back at the office, she refuses to talk to anyone until Amita, wondering why the woman was there, asks to see the woman. The woman then tells Amita that her name is Santi and that she and her sister, Prita (Azita Ghanizada), came to the United States from Chennai, India, as organ tourists, selling their kidneys on the black market to earn money for their families. Dr. Charlie Eppes (David Krumholtz) and Dr. Larry Fleinhardt (Peter MacNicol) determine the time of another victim's death as earlier in the day.

Following tips from the bread delivery man (P.J. Brown) and from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), FBI Special Agent Megan Reeves (Diane Farr) goes to the hospital to see if Santi's sister is there. She learns that a young Indian woman had been in the morgue for a couple of days, dead from complications involving the removal of one of her kidneys. When Megan and Amita show Santi the picture of the dead woman, Santi tells them that she was a friend of theirs, Sonali, who was a fellow organ tourist. Santi also tells the women that there was another missing friend, Jaya. While following up on the lead about the ambulance, David and FBI Special Agent Colby Granger (Dylan Bruno) chase the ambulance that was spotted at the hospital by the bread delivery man. The ambulance crashes, killing the driver. Charlie and Larry use the driver's log to determine that the ambulance driver returned to the hospital during off-hours. At the hospital's morgue, the team finds Jaya dead and learns that a doctor had been behind the black-market organ transplants.

Charlie, Amita, and Larry use Santi's blood (providing a familiar match to Prita's human leukocyte antigen (HLA) type) and an organ-matching database to find the most likely person to receive Prita's organs. Upon finding a link to a recipient who had paid to procure Prita's organs on the black market, Don and the team track Prita and the doctor to another hotel, where they rescue Prita just before the doctor began surgery. The sisters are reunited. Amita decides to use her money from her prize to finance the sisters' education and to take a trip to India with her grandmother, since the case has inspired her to learn about her heritage. Don and Charlie become organ donors. During the case, Don learns that his and Charlie's father Alan Eppes (Judd Hirsch) had a friend who needed a transplant and could not find a match. Alan's story about his friend inspires Don to make the decision to become an organ donor. During a discussion about the need for organ donors at the dinner table, Charlie decides to become an organ donor also.

Origin

An article in the Christian Science Monitor inspired Numb3rs series writer J. David Harden to write an episode about organ tourists. [1] Harden contacted the Hollywood, Health & Society program to learn more about the need for organ donations and the process of organ matching. [2] He initially encountered resistance to the idea of a storyline about organ donations due to the medical community's assumption that misinformation about organ transplants could lead to increased public resistance to organ donations. [3]

Harden also incorporated Dorry Segev and Summer Gentry’s algorithm for matching transplant donors and recipients. [4] In developing their algorithm, Gentry, a United States Naval Academy applied mathematician, and Segev, a Johns Hopkins University transplant surgeon, sought an improvement over the Top Trading Cycles and Chains (TTCC) algorithm, an algorithm developed by economists Alvin Roth, Tayfun Sonmez, and Utku Unver used to match kidney recipients with living organ donors who have different blood types from the recipients. TTCC was used to make the best possible matches during organ exchanges, a process where transplant recipient and organ donors would exchange healthy organs. To decrease the risk of organ rejection, the TTCC algorithm required a large number of organ donors and transplant recipients. The large number of people required by the algorithm was unrealistic. Using a modified version of Jack Edmonds’ computational complexity algorithm, Gentry and Segev discovered that their algorithm could be used to create a national organ donor registry. [5]

Reception

First airing in the United States on January 27, 2006, over 13.22 million people watched "Harvest" on CBS. [6] The episode received mixed reviews. Television critics liked the episode. Cynthia Boris of DVD Verdict stated that the episode had "nice twists". [7] In an article highlighting the rise of realistic Indian-American characters on American television, Anil Padmanabhan, a writer for India Today , called the episode Rawat's "best exposure". [8] Opinions from the medical community were more mixed. Although he found the message about organ donations "positive", Kevin B. O'Reilly of the American Medical Association's MedNews called "Harvest" "a mixed bag". [9] Other medical experts disliked the storyline of black market organ donations in the United States. [2] On the other hand, Joyce Somsak of the Health Resources and Services Administration stated that "Harvest" was "really good". [10]

The episode inspired a couple of academic case studies. The first was a George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services case study about the effects of television writers consulting medical professionals on the storyline of a television episode. Participants in a survey conducted by the University of Southern California and Purdue University felt that a black market for organs existed and that a person's place on the organ priority list can be influenced by money or fame. They, as a result of "Harvest", also were more likely to become organ donors or to consider doing so. [1] The second case study was about TV's influence on the discussion of organ donations. Participants in a Hollywood Health & Society online survey were also more likely to believe in the existence of black-market organ trafficking and were more likely to donate organs after watching "Harvest". They also were more likely to see the importance of organ donations. [11]

"Harvest" has won one award and been nominated for a second. It won the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication's Norman Lear Center 2006 Sentinel for Health Award in the primetime drama category, winning over two episodes of Grey's Anatomy and one episode of Without a Trace . [12] The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences nominated Jim Vickers' work on "Harvest" for a Creative Arts Emmy for "Outstanding Stunt Coordination", but the episode lost to an episode of E-Ring . [13]

Related Research Articles

Organ donation Process of voluntarily giving away organs

Organ donation is the process when a person allows an organ of their own to be removed and transplanted to another person, legally, either by consent while the donor is alive or dead with the assent of the next of kin.

Organ transplantation Medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient

Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transported from a donor site to another location. Organs and/or tissues that are transplanted within the same person's body are called autografts. Transplants that are recently performed between two subjects of the same species are called allografts. Allografts can either be from a living or cadaveric source.

Kidney transplantation Medical procedure

Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor or living-donor transplantation depending on the source of the donor organ. Living-donor kidney transplants are further characterized as genetically related (living-related) or non-related (living-unrelated) transplants, depending on whether a biological relationship exists between the donor and recipient.

United Network for Organ Sharing

The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is a non-profit, scientific and educational organization that administers the only Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) in the United States, established by the U.S. Congress in 1984 by Gene A. Pierce, founder of United Network for Organ Sharing. Located in Richmond, Virginia, the organization's headquarters are situated near the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64 in the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park.

Organ transplantation in China

Organ transplantation in China has taken place since the 1960s, and is one of the largest organ transplant programmes in the world, peaking at over 13,000 liver and kidney transplants a year in 2004. Involuntary organ harvesting is illegal under Chinese law; though, under a 1984 regulation, it became legal to remove organs from executed criminals with the prior consent of the criminal or permission of relatives. Growing concerns about possible ethical abuses arising from coerced consent and corruption led medical groups and human rights organizations, by the 1990s, to condemn the practice. These concerns resurfaced in 2001, when a Chinese asylum-seeking doctor testified that he had taken part in organ extraction operations.

Organ procurement is a surgical procedure that removes organs or tissues for reuse, typically for organ transplantation.

Certain fundamental Jewish law questions arise in issues of organ donation. Donation of an organ from a living person to save another's life, where the donor's health will not appreciably suffer, is permitted and encouraged in Jewish law. Donation of an organ from a dead person is equally permitted for the same purpose: to save a life. This simple statement of the issue belies, however, the complexity of defining death in Jewish law. Thus, although there are side issues regarding mutilation of the body etc., the primary issue that prevents organ donation from the dead amongst Jews, in many cases, is the definition of death, simply because to take a life-sustaining organ from a person who was still alive would be murder.

On October 19, 1984, the Congress of the United States approved the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA). It not only established the framework for the U.S. organ transplant system but has served as a model for development of other transplant networks worldwide. Through the establishment of a national Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN), the law directed that organ allocation would be managed on a national basis and be developed through a unique public-private partnership. Since the initial network contract was finalized in 1986, United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has served as the OPTN under contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. OPTN policies are developed by a broad community that includes donation and transplant clinicians and professionals, as well as people personally touched by the donation and transplant experience. NOTA and subsequent federal regulation call on the OPTN to emphasize fair and equitable patient access to transplantation, as well as reliance on objective medical evidence and adaptability to rapid evolution in clinical treatment and scientific understanding. Many of the OPTN’s responsibilities, priorities and policies have changed over the years. Yet the lifesaving gift organ donation, and the continuing need of candidates awaiting a transplant, remain the same today as they did 30 years ago. To fulfill the ultimate goals of NOTA, we must continue to ensure that the national transplant network allocates organs efficiently and fairly. We must also build public knowledge and trust in organ donation to help increase transplant opportunities for everyone in need.

Organ trade is the trading of human organs, tissues, or other body products, usually for transplantation. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), organ trade is a commercial transplantation where there is a profit, or transplantations that occur outside of national medical systems. There is a global need or demand for healthy body parts for transplantation, which exceeds the numbers available.

Kilgour–Matas report Report on forced organ harvesting in China

The Kilgour–Matas report is a 2006/2007 investigative report into allegations of live organ harvesting in China conducted by Canadian MP David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas. The report was requested by the Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong (CIPFG) after allegations emerged that Falun Gong practitioners were secretly having their organs removed against their will at Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital, although an independent investigation found insufficient evidence to support the allegation. The report, based on circumstantial evidence, concluded that "there has been, and continues today to be, large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners." China has consistently denied the allegations.

Organ transplantation in Israel has historically been low compared to other Western countries due to a common belief that organ donation is prohibited under Jewish law. This changed with the passage of new organ donation laws in 2008. If two patients have the same medical need, priority will now go to the patient who has signed an organ donor card, or whose family members have donated an organ. This policy was nicknamed don't give, don't get. The law also defines "brain death" as an indication of death for all legal purposes, including organ donation. Additionally the law provides financial reimbursement to living donors for medical expenses due to donation and lost time at work. Organ trafficking is explicitly banned. Health insurance plans can no longer reimburse patients who go abroad to receive transplants.

Organ theft is the forcible removal of a person's organs to be used as transplants and sold on the black market. While some supposed cases of organ theft are urban legends, others have been found to be true. It is also a commonly used trope in science fiction.

Francis L. Delmonico

Francis L. Delmonico, MD, FACS is a surgeon, clinical professor and health expert in the field of transplantation. He serves on numerous committees and is affiliated with various leading organizations and institutions. He is the chief medical officer of the New England Organ Bank (NEOB) and Professor of Surgery, Part-Time at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is emeritus director of renal transplantation. He served as president of The Transplantation Society (TTS) from 2012 to 2014, an international non-profit organization based in Montreal, Canada that works with international transplantation physicians and researchers. He also served as the president of the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS) in 2005, which overseas the practice of organ donation and transplantation in the United States. He was appointed and still serves as an advisor to the World Health Organization in matters of organ donation and transplantation. He was appointed by Pope Francis to the Pontifical Academy of Science in 2016. In 2020, he became the recipient of the Medawar Prize of The Transplantation Society.

In bioethics, ethics of organ transplantation refers to the ethical concerns on organ transplantation procedures. Both the source and method of obtaining the organ to transplant are major ethical issues to consider, as well as the notion of distributive justice.

There have been allegations of forced organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and other political prisoners in China. According to a controversial report by former lawmaker David Kilgour, human rights lawyer David Matas and Ethan Gutmann of the US government think tank Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, political prisoners, mainly Falun Gong practitioners, are being executed "on demand" in order to provide organs for transplant to recipients. Research undertaken by the Washington Post has contradicted these allegations, by showing that China does not import sufficient quantities of immunosuppressant drugs, used by transplant recipients, to carry out the alleged organ harvesting.

The National Kidney Registry (NKR) is a national registry in the United States listing kidney donors and recipients in need of a kidney transplant. NKR facilitates over 450 "Kidney Paired Donation" (KPD) or "Paired Exchange" transplants annually.

Kidney paired donation (KPD) or paired exchange, is an approach to living donor kidney transplantation where patients with incompatible donors swap kidneys to receive a compatible kidney. KPD is used in situations where a potential donor is incompatible. Because better donor HLA and age matching are correlated with lower lifetime mortality and longer lasting kidney transplants, many compatible pairs are also participating in swaps to find better matched kidneys. In the United States, the National Kidney Registry organizes the majority of U.S. KPD transplants, including the largest swaps. The first large swap was a 60 participant chain in 2012 that appeared on the front page of the New York Times and the second, even larger swap, included 70 participants and was completed in 2014. Other KPD programs in the U.S. include the UNOS program which was launched in 2010 and completed its 100th KPD transplant in 2014 and the Alliance for Paired Donation.

Dorry Segev American surgeon

Dorry L. Segev is the Israeli-born Marjory K. and Thomas Pozefsky Professor of Surgery at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, professor of epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and associate vice chair of the Department of Surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He has made significant contributions to the field of transplantation, including developing a mathematical model to facilitate a nationwide kidney paired donation program, both in the US and Canada. He is also known for his role in getting the HIV Organ Policy Equity Act signed into law.

Organ transplantation in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu is regulated by India's Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 and is facilitated by the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) of the Government of Tamil Nadu and several NGOs. Tamil Nadu ranks first in India in deceased organ donation rate at 1.8 per million population, which is seven times higher than the national average.

Organ donation in India is regulated by the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994. The law allows both deceased and living donors to donate their organs. It also identifies brain death as a form of death. The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) functions as the apex body for activities of relating to procurement, allotment and distribution of organs in the country.

References

  1. 1 2 Lauren Movius; Michael Cody; Grace Huang; Mandy Berkowitz; Susan Morgan (January 2008). "Motivating Television Viewers to Become Organ Donors". The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. Archived from the original on March 8, 2010. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  2. 1 2 The Associated Press (April 22, 2007). "You pay for TV MDs". New York Daily News . Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  3. ↑ Stephen Smith (December 18, 2006). "The doctor is ON". The Boston Globe . Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  4. ↑ Kellye Lynn (January 27, 2006). "Area Couple Creates Formula To Aid Kidney Donation". WJZ 13. Archived from the original on June 20, 2007. Retrieved August 14, 2009.
  5. ↑ Mackenzie, Dana (December 21, 2008). "Matchmaking for Kidneys". SIAM News. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
  6. ↑ "CBS Places First in Viewers for the 17th Time in 19 Weeks" (Press release). CBS through The Futon Critic. January 31, 2006. Retrieved August 4, 2009.
  7. ↑ Boris, Cynthia (November 1, 2006). "Case Number 10267--Numb3rs: The Complete Second Season". DVD Verdict. Archived from the original on November 18, 2009. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  8. ↑ Padmanabhan, Anil (March 27, 2006). "Indian Idols, American TV". India Today. Retrieved January 26, 2010.
  9. ↑ O'Reilly, Kevin B. (September 3, 2007). "Campaign targets TV's skewed view of organ donation". MedNews. American Medical Association . Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  10. ↑ Richwine, Lisa (May 25, 2007). "Health experts help TV docs get facts straight". Reuters . Retrieved January 28, 2010.
  11. ↑ Susan Morgan; Lauren Movius; Michael Cody (May 23, 2007). "The Power of Narratives: The Effect of Organ Donation Storylines on the Attitudes, Knowledge, and Behaviors of Donors and Nondonors". AllAcademic Research. International Communication Association. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  12. ↑ Mandy Berkowitz (September 28, 2006). "Writers and Producers Honored for Addressing Medical and Ethical Issues in Television Storylines" (PDF). Hollywood Health & Society. Retrieved August 5, 2009.
  13. ↑ Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (2006). "Outstanding Stunt Coordination - 2006". Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 16, 2010. Retrieved January 16, 2010.

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