Since the sixteenth century, organ transplants have saved many lives. Organ transplants were first recognized by Gasparo Tagliacozz. Tagliacozz specialized in rebuilding noses and ears using skin from the victims’ appendages. He discovered that the skin used from different donors caused the procedure to fail. This is otherwise known as rejection. Organ transplants are life or death operations. There are over one-hundred thousand people currently waiting for a transplant. Around fifteen people die every day waiting on an organ. The organ transplant, itself, is a life threatening procedure. Joan Arehart-Treichel states, “One reason for this recent upsurge in organ transplant survival rates is improved surgical techniques. Since 1981, for example, …show more content…
The true value of an organ transplant boils down to the many lives that have been saved over the years because of it.
Certain people, like illegal aliens, foreigners, and people with a history of addiction or a criminal record should not be denied a place on waiting lists. Unfortunately, many have been denied the opportunity of an organ transplant due to the need of closing the gap between the shortage of donated organs and the numerous patients waiting for an organ. Those whom have been denied a place on a waiting list are the first to suffer the consequences. This isn’t exactly what someone would call ethical. Many illegal immigrants come to America seeking the opportunity of receiving a transplant. Little do they know, there is no way of getting on an organ waiting list without being a citizen of the United States. Every day, many immigrants are turned away from equal medical treatment. Also, drug users are usually turned away from organ waiting lists. Before transplanting, patients are
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The risks of infection are directly related to the potency and duration of immunosuppressive therapies, organ-donor selection, surgical techniques, and postoperative exposures to invasive procedures or treatments” (Garibaldi 460). Dr. Garibaldi’s article, Infections in Organ Transplant Recipients, explains the variety of infections for renal and bone marrow transplant. In the 1960s, fifty percent of renal transplant recipients died within three years of the transplant from infection. Bacterial infections and opportunistic fungal infections were held accountable for most of complications post-transplant. Garibaldi explained transplants as having a “lack of sophistication” in the 1960s. “Presently, more than ninety percent of patients with cadaveric renal grafts and more than ninety-five percent with living-related grafts survive at least one year” (Garibaldi 461). Today, survival rates are increasing. Sally Squires wrote, “Best survival rates continue to occur in kidney transplant recipients” (5). Also for each year that passes after the first year post-transplant, the mortality rate is less than five percent each year thereafter. Garibaldi further explained, “Transplant surgery and subsequent care expose them to invasive procedures that allow easy ingress of bacteria into specific sites and predispose
Although receiving the transplant in such a short time, the majority of patients wait 6 months to 2 years.
Organ sales and donation are a controversial topic that many individuals cannot seem to agree upon. However, if someone close; a family member, friend, or someone important in life needed a transplant, would that mindset change? There are over one hundred and nineteen thousand men, women, and children currently waiting on the transplant list, and twenty-two of them die each day waiting for a transplant (Organ, 2015). The numbers do not lie. Something needs to be done to ensure a second chance at life for these individuals. Unfortunately, organ sales are illegal per federal law and deemed immoral. Why is it the government’s choice what individuals do with their own body? Organ sales can be considered an ethical practice when all sides of the story are examined. There are a few meanings to the word ethical in this situation; first, it would boost the supply for the
Satel starts her essay with an appeal to emotion, detailing the shortage of organ transplants and the deaths that result. She emphasizes her personal struggle and desperation over the need of a kidney transplant. Unable to discover a match and dialysis soon approaching, she “wondered about going overseas to become a “transplant tourist”, but getting a black market organ seemed too risky.”(Satel, 128) She argues for a change in the United States donor system policy to mimic the European system of implied consent. Satel also argues for the implementation of an incentive system to compensate donors for their organs, in order to increase the amount of available donors in the system. Her argument has insignificant weaknesses in comparison to her strongly supported and validated points.
Weitz, J., Koch, M., Mehrabi, A., Schemmer, P., Zeier, M., Beimler, J., … Schmidt, J. (2006). Living-donar kidney transplantation: Risks of the donor- benefits of the recipient. Clinical Transplantation , 20 (17), 13-16.
There are questions about transplant allocation in regards to the four major ethical principles in medical ethics: beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence and justice. Beneficence is the “obligation of healthcare providers to help people” that are in need, autonomy is the “right of patients to make choices” in regards to their healthcare, nonmaleficence, is the “duty of the healthcare providers to do no harm”, and justice is the “concept of treating everyone in a fair manner” ("Medical Ethics & the Rationing of Health Care: Introduction", n.d., p. 1).
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
The question arises about the ethics of making organ donation mandatory. From religions to freedom to fear, there are many pros and cons between the legality of the situation, but it all boils down to the freedom citizens have been given, which makes mandatory organ donation unethical. Lately, this has been an increasingly debated topic worldwide, as many people question the ethics of making organ donation mandatory. Organ transplantation is a surgical procedure, where a failing or damaged organ is replaced with a new one, either from a living or deceased donor. Any part of the body that performs a specialized function is classified as an organ. People can become organ donors by listing it on their driver’s license or signing a document with
Organ Transplantation is often the best way of saving human life when a vital organ
Now imagine if it were you, that needed a liver, heart, or other organ transplant. You want to live to see so much more in life, but you did not get on the list in time and there is a shortage in organ donors. You must say good bye to life, your loved ones and every thing else. This is not a good thing to imagine, yet people die everyday with this feeling.
Throughout history physicians have faced numerous ethical dilemmas and as medical knowledge and technology have increased so has the number of these dilemmas. Organ transplants are a subject that many individuals do not think about until they or a family member face the possibility of requiring one. Within clinical ethics the subject of organ transplants and the extent to which an individual should go to obtain one remains highly contentious. Should individuals be allowed to advertise or pay for organs? Society today allows those who can afford to pay for services the ability to obtain whatever they need or want while those who cannot afford to pay do without. By allowing individuals to shop for organs the medical profession’s ethical belief in equal medical care for every individual regardless of their ability to pay for the service is severely violated (Caplan, 2004).
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
Zimmerman, M. A., Wachs, M., Bak, T., & Kam, I. (n.d.). The History of Liver Transplantation
The scientific name of a kidney infection is known as pyelonephritis. There are two types of pyelonephritis infections, acute and chronic. Acute pyelonephritis is sudden and limited and can be cured/treated using antibiotics. However, if it is a chronic infection, it is long-lasting and occurs due to birth defects; it can lead to scarring in the kidneys, as well. Kidney infections can occur in both men and women. Although, according to Chih-Yen’s study of chronic infection, “Females (36.1%, 60/166) were more prone to have upper UTIs than males (11.8%, 13/110)” (Chih-Yeh, 2014; Chih-Yeh et al., 2014). In addition, age is not an important number due to the presence of Escherichia coli present in everyone’s body. It is dependent on time and health of an individual for the infection to present itself. Moreover, a study on children and adolescent transplantation concluded that, “UTI was uncommon in children after the first month of transplantation. Two significant risk factors for UTI were female gender and neurogenic bladder in this transplant population” (Fallahzadeh, 2011; Fallahzadeh et al., 2011). From the peer-reviewed papers, it is clear that females are more prone to UTI infection, overall, than
Organ Transplantation Organ transplantation in Judaism is a topic that is difficult due to the complex and fast advancing technology. The process of transplanting human organs into the dying is considered to be a procedure to save lives, and while Jewish tradition considers saving human life to be among the highest ethical obligations as well as a religious duty for a Jewish person to do, it does bring up many questions and ethical issues to be considered. Rabbi Waldenburg was interviewed with the understanding that he did not agree with the process of organ transplantation. Rabbi Waldenburg holds the belief that, “…the main problem is not the determination of the moment of death, then it makes no difference whether the donor is alive or dead; it is the transplant itself that is prohibited” (Brand p.506) This is the consensus in Judaism