“In the United States alone, 21 people die everyday awaiting an organ transplant”(Wen, par. 3). The medical community has begun to pose questions in order to help those needing organ transplants. How can the number of donors be expanded to insure a decrease in the lack of organ donations? Should the United States implement policies to make everyone an organ donor by default? Many health professionals have agreed that making everyone an organ donor by default would save the lives of thousands of people. The debate of how to reach and encourage more people to donate is pot which is slowly coming to a boil and needs to be neutralized before it froths over the rim.
Many individuals often ask why there is a lack of organ donors. Lack of education
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According to an article posted by Live Science, Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs received a liver transplant in Tennessee due to a lack of donors in California (“Declining” par 7). Research has shown a slow decline in the number of living donors as well as a decline in people opting to donate upon death. Though many people do claim to support organ transplants, many do not opt to donate. Some individuals have the information that is necessary to make an informed decision of whether or not they would like to donate their organs but, choose not to due to religious reasons. Religion is often seen as a repeat subject as to why people do not want to donate. When it comes to organ transplants religion and science are definitely pinned up in a head to head …show more content…
American society is witnessing the effects of a lack of organ donors. The current policies of organ donations are obviously not working so something needs to change. Investing in more education may help more people give the gift of life. However, some individuals may have all the educational tools to make an informed decision of whether or not they would like to donate their organs and still decline the option to donate. Xenotransplantation has made groundbreaking advances. However, these advances are being brought into question. Is it morally incorrect to transplant animal organs into human recipients. Xenotransplantation could also have consequences scientists are not yet aware of. There are too many questions left unanswered leaving one to wonder if xenotransplantation is the best solution. It something of sciene fiction. Donor by default would be the best solution to implement because it is both the quickest and simplest of all. Time is something people awaiting an organ transplant simply do not have. The opt-out option would still be available to people who simply do not want to donate making this solution not violate any human rights. No matter what an individual believes is the solution to the lack of organ donors, it is apparent American society has a problem and solutions are needed soon. Until there is a change in the system, individuals should opt-in to
With deaths occurring everyday due to a lack of organ donation, this tragic situation could possibly be rectified by educating the public about organ donation by revealing stories behind successuful transplants and the reality that organ donation is truly giving
In her article, Satel criticizes the current methods governing organ sharing in the United States, and suggests that the government should encourage organ donation, whether it was by providing financial incentives or other compensatory means to the public. Furthermore, the author briefly suggests that the European “presumed consent” system for organ donation might remedy this shortage of organs if implicated in the States.
In “Death’s Waiting List”, Sally Satel presents a strong and compelling argument for the implementation of changes to the organ donation system. The author addresses a shortage of organ donations due to the current donation system in the United States, which puts stipulations on the conditions surrounding the donation. She provides ideas to positively affect the system and increase organ donations.
This article, found in A Matter Of Life And Death, explains that organ shortages exist for two reasons. The first reason being congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act, meaning that buy and selling organs is illegal. The second being that regulations have been placed and patients can only receive a transplant once their health deteriorates and their chances for long term survival are slim. (Carlstrom 50). Using this information, I could defend and provide reasons why we are having organ shortages. The article helps explain the main root of the problem of organ shortages, that more people need to be aware o...
In the world we’re living in today, many kinds of diseases, infections, and viruses are continuously arising. At the same time, scientists are untiringly researching about how we can prevent or cure them. Unfortunately, millions of people have been affected and sick that some of their organs fail that results to the need of organ replacement. Many people have died because no organs have been available to provide the need of organ replacements. The shortage of organ replacement has been a bioethical issue since then and it seems like no solution has been available. However, due to the studies scientists have been conducting, they found the most possible answer to this issue – Xenotransplantation. It hasn’t become very popular all over the
Currently 70,000 Americans are on the organ waiting list and fewer than 20,000 of these people can hope to have their lives saved by human organ transplantation.1 As a result of this shortage, there has been a tremendous demand for research in alternative methods of organ transplantation. Private companies are racing to develop these technologies with an estimated market of six billion dollars.2 Xenotransplantation, or cross-species organ transplantation, appears to be the most likely solution in the near future, and cloned pigs are the main candidates. Pigs and humans have remarkable similarities in physiology, which along with cloning makes pigs strong possibilities for organ donors. A controversial alternative method involves the use of genetically altered headless human beings as organ donors. Although this method may not be developed for some years, scientists are already discussing the necessary technologies. Whether the solution is the cloning of a pig or a human, organ farms may provide us with a solution to our ever-increasing need for donors.
It’s important to realize that many Americans believe organ donation should simply be just that, a donation to someone in need. However, with the working class making up roughly 60% of society it’s extremely unlikely that a citizen could financially support themselves during and after aiding someone in a lifesaving organ transplant. The alarming consequence, says bioethicist Sigrid Fry-Revere, is that people waiting for kidneys account for 84 percent of the waiting list. To put it another way Tabarrok explains, “In the U.S. alone 83,000 people wait on the official kidney-transplant list. But just 16,500 people received a kidney transplant in 2008, while almost 5,000 died waiting for one” (607). Those numbers are astronomical. When the current “opt-in” policy is failing to solve the organ shortage, there is no reason compensation should be frowned upon. By shifting society’s current definition regarding the morality of organ donation, society will no longer see compensation for organs as distasteful. Citizens will not have to live in fear of their friends and family dying awaiting an organ transplant procedure. A policy implementing compensation would result in the ability for individuals to approach the issue with the mindset that they are helping others and themselves. The government currently regulates a variety of programs that are meant to keep equality and fairness across the
“There are a lot of people who subscribe to the belief that if a doctor knows you are a registered donor, they won’t do everything they can to save your life.”-Brian Quick. When you’re an organ donor, not only are you giving up your organs but you are also giving up permission granted in the knowledge of the possible outcomes. What I mean is the donor gets no information or not enough facts of the consequences over organ donations. Doctors don’t have to tell you nor your relatives what they are capable to do with your body during operations because you are going to be dead, with no legal rights. Religion would be another factor of organ donation disagreement. While many religions consider donating organs to be an act of love, Catholics are less likely to donate than other religious groups. The reason why Catholics frequently wouldn’t donate organs is because it is due to a belief in the afterlife and the concern for keeping body integrity. Basically they believe once they die they should keep their belonging as self determination over their own
I am very interested in the topic of Organ transplantation. I am interested in biology and the process of surgeries. What intrigues me is the process of saving someone’s life in such a dramatic and complicated process. My dad happens to be a doctor and in his training he cut open a human body to see for himself the autonomy of the body. So being interested in the field of medicine is in my blood. Modern technology helps many people and saves people around the globe. However even with modern technologies that progress mankind, bio medical and ethical dilemmas emerge. And ultimately life falls into the hands of the rabbis, lawmakers and philosophical thinkers.
Though it isn’t an immediate fix, “advances in bioengineering may eventually shrink the organ gap, allowing surgeons to transplant organs engineered from a patient’s own stem cells. But for complex organs such as lungs and kidneys, that goal is probably decades away” (Mantel 337). Stem cell research is a growing industry many have become involved in, and the rates at which people could be saved is amazing. However, it takes time to get to those results, so in the meantime bioengineers have been looking into and experimenting with xenotransplantation; otherwise known as the transplantation of animal organs into humans. Many find this inhumane and animal abuse, but many argue that wouldn’t having children for their “spare parts” be considered inhumane also? The use of animal organs or parts of animal organs seems to be a considerably reliable alternative to doing things illegally. Darian Corner, a student of Sam Houston State University told me her opinions on the use of animal organs in humans and this is what she had to say: “I believe it is a great idea! My niece Ashtyn has a heart defect and two complete arteries and two incomplete arteries at the top of her heart, causing severe lack of blood flow throughout her body. The doctors used a cow vein in replace of a human artery in order to reconstruct it her heart to where she has three complete arteries supplying blood to her body. Her heart is now strong and fully functional, however as she grows she will have to go back in and have the vein exchanged for a larger one, but it saved her life and for that I am extremely thankful.” Its stories like this that makes it hard to believe that more people aren’t supportive of xenotransplantation. Though much more research needs to be done, stem cells, xenotransplantation, and living donors can
...e identifies the need for improvement not in the distribution of the organs available for transplant, but in the education of policy and regulating agencies on diversity, multiculturalism and ethics that need to be applied prior to approaching the general public and asking them to become organ donors for the good of everyone.
The uncontainable despair of the weeping and screaming parents entering a room full of body bags containing the altered remains of their children. In a room drained with blood and surrounding fridges for the maintenance of the ejected organs, everything seems miserably surreal(“Children Kidnapped for Their Organs”). This is only one of the discovered cases of the daily dozens of people killed for organ harvestation. Adding up to ten thousand illegal operations in 2012 which translates to hourly sales (Samadi). These abhorrent acts add up as crimes against humanity which are triggered by a numerous amount of reasons; in order to stop these constant atrocities we must uncover the root of the causes.
Nadiminti, H. (2005) Organ Transplantation: A dream of the past, a reality of the present, an ethical Challenge for the future. Retrieved February 12, 2014 from http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2005/09/fred1-0509.html
One of the most important and prevalent issues in healthcare discussed nowadays is the concern of the organ donation shortage. As the topic of organ donation shortages continues to be a growing problem, the government and many hospitals are also increasingly trying to find ways to improve the number of organ donations. In the United States alone, at least 6000 patients die each year while on waiting lists for new organs (Petersen & Lippert-Rasmussen, 2011). Although thousands of transplant candidates die from end-stage diseases of vital organs while waiting for a suitable organ, only a fraction of eligible organ donors actually donate. Hence, the stark discrepancy in transplantable organ supply and demand is one of the reasons that exacerbate this organ donation shortage (Parker, Winslade, & Paine, 2002). In the past, many people sought the supply of transplantable organs from cadaver donors. However, when many ethical issues arose about how to determine whether someone is truly dead by either cardiopulmonary or neurological conditions (Tong, 2007), many healthcare professionals and transplant candidates switched their focus on obtaining transplantable organs from living donors instead. As a result, in 2001, the number of living donors surpassed the number of cadaver donors for the first time (Tong, 2007).
Finally, public awareness regarding how to go about organ donation should be drastically improved upon. This could be done by advertising how to go about donation, and what affect donation has on other peoples lives. Awareness campaigns and advertisements have has a massive positive effect on blood donation. I believe this method can also be utilised for Organ donation, and the same positive effect achieved.