Organ Donation

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Recommended: Organ donation ethical and moral issues

Topic: Should donors or their families be compensated for organ donation? How should people be selected to receive donor organs?

Major Points: Organ donation myths, Recipient Selection, Legislation and Policy, Current Trend, Let’s Pay Organ Donors.
Thesis: While driving on the highway recently, I saw a bumper sticker which read: “Please Don't Take Your Organs to Heaven, Heaven Knows That We Need Them Here” Approximately 7,000 Americans die annually while awaiting an organ transplant. In other countries of the world thousands more whose lives could be extended or transformed through transplants lost their lives because of unavailable organs. The waiting list is ever growing and the list of those willing to donate seems to be shrinking. This can be attributed to lack of motivation and knowledge among the prospective donors. According to a research done by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Kidney transplant, only one in ten people in need of a new kidney, manages to get one. The gap between supply and demand for organs has created a black market for body parts which has led to abuse of human life especially in third world countries. This high demand has led people to scour the globe to procure the organs they or their loved ones need and unscrupulous intermediaries offer help. There is a need to compensate those who are willing donate if this wide gap has to be bridged.
Body Point 1: Organ donation myths Th...

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... would in the contrary; put it into the hands of black marker dealers just the way outlawing drugs didn’t make them go away but rather put all the power into the hands of drug cartels, and we all know how well that’s turned out. By legalizing organ sales, we can guarantee that the transaction is voluntary, sanitary, and safe. No such promises can be made if we kept it outlawed. I have always wondered why we’re allowed to receive compensation for donating our hair, blood, sperm and eggs. Why should kidneys or bone marrow or other organs fall into a special class that prohibits market exchanges yet they are equally body parts? Banning compensation for these organs is a sure death sentence for thousands of Americans who are in desperate need of these organs and a waste of money for the government in paying for the upkeep of these patients as they undergo the long wait.

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