Organ Donation Compulsory Essay !NEW!
Organ donation is the gift of life. By donating organs you are literally saving thousands of adults and children. The number of patients whose organs are failing on a continuous bases. consequently , the more people who are on the list the less likely they are to get an organ which sadly results in their untimely death. But why would you want to see another human being die? Here in the united states, there is a shortage of organs. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, there are over 117,000 people on the who need a life-saving organ transplant and roughly 22 people die a day waiting on a transplant. The UNOS shows that 95% of adults support organ donation, but only 54% have actually signed up to be donors. According to journalist Paul Hsieh, doctors and organ donor advocates are frustrated by the lack of people willing to donate.
organ donation compulsory essay
You hope and pray that even though the list seems never ending, you somehow will be bumped up in line by proving to be the best match for an available heart before it is too late. After months of waiting, the organ never comes, and you have succumbed to your disease, leaving your friends and family behind to mourn your loss. While that story seems chilling, it is a reality for thousands of individuals every year. If implemented by the United States government, an opt-out organ donation system has the potential to save countless lives that would have otherwise been lost. Our writers can help you with any type of essay. For any subject Get your price How it works
These facts show that the United States is both in dire need of more registered donors, as well as a larger pool of viable organs available to be transplanted. While many individuals see organ donation as selfless, extremely important, and entirely necessary and have no issue with the government implementing a law of presumed consent, others are opposed to the idea entirely.
Consequently, followers of these religions are not only told that organ donation is perfectly acceptable to take part in, but that they are encouraged to do so. Aside from the fact that nearly everyone who is concerned with their religion disapproving of organ donation being wrong, the compulsory system still leaves the option to opt-out at any time. Therefore, if an individual follows a very specific religion that happens to not believe in or support organ donation, those individuals can simply choose to not participate in the program.
Though it seems like common sense that making organ donation compulsory unless one chooses to opt-out will lead to an increase in available organs, the fact that other countries who have adopted this idea have been successful with it speaks octaves louder than common sense ever could.
Though organs are a vital part of the compulsory donation system, bodily tissue donation will also be essential in the process to positively impact lives. While one organ donor can save up to eight lives, that same organ donor can enhance up to seventy-five more with their tissue. Tissue includes body parts such as skin, heart valves, ligaments, bones, veins, and corneas, and can be used to treat birth defects, injuries, and more.
Many in support of a compulsory organ donation system believe that donating your organs and tissues is not only the right thing to do, but that it would be selfish not to. In an article published in the World Journal of Transplantation that was written by Aparna R Danal, an assistant professor in anesthesiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Danal states that [o]rgan donation is founded on the pillars of altruism.
Therefore, when one participates in organ or tissue donation, they are not only benefiting others, but they are benefiting themselves by having a positive neurological response to the act itself. Of course, this would only apply to living donors since when you die, your brain will clearly not have this response. For deceased donors, however, there are still thought to be personal benefits to gain from donation, albeit slightly more ego-driven ones than altruistic ones.
The idea of not having to stress about trying to make time to register as a donor would surely be appealing to many Americans. Aside from the convenience aspect of being listed as a donor automatically, supporters of a compulsory organ donation system have often come to that conclusion due to personal experiences related to themselves or a loved one receiving an organ, or even knowing or being someone who gave their organ(s) to someone in need. In an article written by Kenneth Moritsugu that was published by Public Health Reports in 2013, Moritsugu gives the reader an intimate, firsthand look into his own positive experiences with organ donation.
After all the facts have been considered, compulsory organ donation is imperative in the quest to save the lives of those who suffer from organ failure. It would greatly decrease the number of individuals on the transplant waiting list, assure that new names will be added to the list in larger time intervals than every ten minutes, and will cause the statistic of twenty people dying a day while waiting for a transplant to decline.
Furthermore, use of this system allows the earlier mentioned 95% of all American adults who believe in organ donation to automatically be listed as donors, therefore one can conclude that approximately 95% of the country will be organ donors, since there would be no need for one who believes in donation to opt-out. This being said, presumed consent would effectively fix the problem of the large disparity between adults in agreement with donation and adults who are actually registered as donors. Thus, the gap between the 95% and the 54% will be closed, and thousands of more lives will be saved through the use of organ transplantation each year.
A presumption of consent is also ethically sound and morally justified in organ retrieval for transplantation, provided information on the opt-out process is readily available in easily comprehensible formats, it is ensured that as many people as possible understand the opt-out process and families are given a say in the final decision. However, the concerns that surround the implementation of such a policy are real and mandate that implementation be preceded by a public information campaign highlighting the moral justification for organ donation as a whole, changes in infrastructure that separate the clinicians involved in the clinical care of potential donors from the staff involved in the diagnosis of brain death, consent process, organ retrieval and organ transplantation and clarification of the legal standing of organ donor cards.
The demand for organ transplantation has rapidly increased all over the world during the past decade due to the increased incidence of vital organ failure, the rising success and greater improvement in posttransplant outcome. However, the unavailability of adequate organs for transplantation to meet the existing demand has resulted in major organ shortage crises. As a result there has been a major increase in the number of patients on transplant waiting lists as well as in the number of patients dying while on the waiting list. In the United States, for example, the number of patients on the waiting list in the year 2006 had risen to over 95,000, while the number of patient deaths was over 6,300. This organ shortage crisis has deprived thousands of patients of a new and better quality of life and has caused a substantial increase in the cost of alternative medical care such as dialysis. There are several procedures and pathways which have been shown to provide practical and effective solutions to this crisis. These include implementation of appropriate educational programs for the public and hospital staff regarding the need and benefits of organ donation, the appropriate utilization of marginal (extended criteria donors), acceptance of paired organ donation, the acceptance of the concept of "presumed consent," implementation of a system of "rewarded gifting" for the family of the diseased donor and also for the living donor, developing an altruistic system of donation from a living donor to an unknown recipient, and accepting the concept of a controlled system of financial payment for the donor. As is outlined in this presentation, we strongly believe that the implementation of these pathways for obtaining organs from the living and the dead donors, with appropriate consideration of the ethical, religious and social criteria of the society, the organ shortage crisis will be eliminated and many lives will be saved through the process of organ donation and transplantation.
The research conducted indicated that providing financial incentives has many more disadvantages than advantages. Based on these findings, financial incentives for organ donation should not be implemented nor considered. The demand for organs for transplantation greatly exceeds the supply. As the number of individuals who are in need of a transplantation grows the less likely it becomes that they will receive the gift of an organ.
Currently, to combat the lack of donors, the introduction of financial incentives for organ donors is being considered. These financial incentives may very well increase donation, although they could have dire consequences. Financial incentives can include tax benefits, free health insurance, money in hand and any other types of material gain given to the donor. With all of this in mind, the introduction of financial incentives for organ donation should not be considered any further.
Financial compensation for organ donation will bring about the exploitation of the financially vulnerable, the human body will be turned into a commodity and there will be a decline in altruistic donors.
People of all ages should consider themselves potential donors. When a person dies, they are evaluated for donor suitability based on their medical history and age. The organ procurement organization determines medical suitability for donation.