The incident inspired John Le Carré's novel The Constant Gardener and the subsequent film.

The trial of a drug called Trovan, which was never approved for children in the US, was carried out in the state of Kano. The Nigerians claim that parents were not told that the drug was experimental, that consent was not obtained, and that the company removed all medical records and "obliterated any evidence" of the trial. The local population is still so incensed over the incident that parents have refused to vaccinate their children against polio, to the government's dismay.

Well, even though this may have pushed the boundaries of media ethics, it was not a bioethical issue. It turns out that the woman was an actress - a secret kept under wraps until the moment when she was about to make her choice. "We are not giving away a kidney here.

Lord Winston was particularly scathing about his London colleagues: "Amazing sums of money are being made through IVF. It is really rather depressing to consider that some IVF treatments in London are charged at 10 times the fee that is charged in Melbourne, where there is excellent medicine, where IVF is just as successful, where they have comparable salaries. So one has to ask oneself what has happened. What has happened, of course, is that money is corrupting this whole technology."

Andreas Brunner, the senior prosecutor of the Zurich canton, told the London Sunday Telegraph: "We are not trying to ban the so-called death tourism, but the outsourcing of suicide must be put under stricter control... There are many cases where it is not clear whether the assisted person has chosen death in full possession of their decision-making capacity. But investigations are difficult due to lack of evidence after the suicide."

"Staff at egg agencies constantly thank women and encourage them to think about what a wonderful difference they're making in the lives of recipients," Almeling says. "The sperm bank staff is appreciative, but men aren't told how amazing they are and what a great gift they're giving. They're treated more like reproductive service workers. They come in. They clock in and out. Their sample is checked for quality. And they're only paid when they produce an acceptable sample."

The trend has increased since the Asian currency crisis between 1997 and 2001, and 9/11, because Asians and Arabs were effectively unable to travel to the US for treatment. Savvy medical administrators sensed an opportunity and stepped into the gap. In some instances, the quality of medicine is outstanding.

According to Ruben Toral, a marketing manager for a Bangkok-based hospital, the typical medical tourist is someone over 50 who wants elective surgery or a medical procedure on a budget. His hospital pays its doctors lower wages and runs a strictly cash business.

At a seminar on international medical tourism in Las Vegas earlier this month, however, some concerns about the trend emerged. In many of these countries medical liability is not well developed. Although there is little hard information, some procedures have required reparative surgery back home. A recent survey of 68 Australian plastic surgeons uncovered 100 instances of botched procedures after women took "cosmetic surgery holidays" in Thailand and Malaysia.