The Pros And Cons Of Becoming An Organ Donor

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Reasons that influence a persons decision not to become a deceased donor

The decision to become an organ donor is one that should not be taken lightly. The decision to become a donor could potentially save the lives of up to 10 people. If organ donation has such positive outcomes, why does New Zealand have such a low donor rate? Many New Zealanders chose not to become donors for various reasons. Some of which are the lack of understanding about the circumstances that come with organ or tissue donation. For a listed donor to actually donate their organs after death, they must have suffered severe, irreversible, brain injury and died in such a way that they are in a hospital on life support, keeping their organs alive. They are then tested for brain death. Brain death is a state when, after an injury to the brain, their brain stem is no longer active. Many people choose not to become a donor because they misunderstand brain death and confuse it for a coma. The key difference between brain death and a coma is that comatose patients are sending out brain signals while brain dead people are not. While many people choose not to be a donor due to their lack of understanding on the circumstances that come with organ or tissue donation, others choose not to due to their in depth understanding of the system. The brain death exams involve a few simple tests. Ice water is splashed into the ears to look for shivering in the eyes, the eyes are poked with a cotton swab, any gag reflexes are checked and the ventilator is disconnected to see if the patient is able to breathe without it. Some are shocked to discover that brain dead patients are not tested for higher brain activity. It was recommended to use …show more content…

MY OPINION
Organ donation is a great idea to save lives and if hospitals were to provide detailed information on the process of organ donation behind the scenes and improved the test for brain death, the rates for deceased organ and tissue donors would increase

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