“Autonomy is defined as self-determination and freedom from the control of others and making your life choices” (Morrison, 2011). The principle of autonomy holds that actions or practices tend to be right thus far as they respect or reflect the exercise of self-determination. “Persons and their actions are never fully autonomous, but nevertheless it is possible to recognize certain individuals and their decisions as more or less substantially autonomous” (Organ Procurement & Transplant Network, 2010). With the presentation of the principle of autonomy there are a few considerations such as, refusal of an organ and the right to do so, directed donation allocation, the processes of organ donation, and allocation rules that enable patients to make informed decisions.
Ethical Health Care Issues: Organ Transplant Allocation University of Phoenix HCS 545 Health Care Law and Ethics Louise Underhahl July 23, 2012 Ethical Health Care Issues: Organ Transplant Allocation One of the areas that is currently affecting the United States is the ethical issue of organ transplant allocation. Since the first single lung transplant in 1983 and then the first double lung transplant in 1986 there have been thousands of people who have lived because of the surgery. One must examine, evaluate, and apply the four ethical principles to Organ transplant allocation to look at the ethical issues involved. Once must look at the fact that not every patient who would benefit from a transplant will receive one in time
In this paper I will be using the normative theory of utilitarianism as the best defensible approach to increase organ donations. Utilitarianism is a theory that seeks to increase the greatest good for the greatest amount of people (Pense2007, 61). The utilitarian theory is the best approach because it maximizes
Danica Smith Final Paper Outline Organ Transplantation Due to the increase in medical technology over the years, medical advancements, such as organ transplants, have grown in commonality. This has increased the number of patient who needs such care. The problem with organ transplants arises from the debate on the ethical way to
Every day lives are changed when donor organs are provided. The tragedy and loss of one family turn into hope and unbounded promise for another family. A recipient's life is transformed and given a second chance with a donor's gift of life. Although there are many supporters of organ transplants, many others reject the practice.
Allocation of Scarce Resources: Donor Organs Deborah Russell Drexel University Abstract The allocation of scarce resources is an ongoing issue in healthcare today. The scarcity of many specific interventions include beds in the intensive care unit, donor organs, and vaccines during a pandemic influenza are widely acknowledged as an extensive issue in healthcare ethics. The allocation of scarce resources is the determination of how to equally and fairly use scarce medical resources available in a healthcare environment. This paper will focus on donor organs for transplantation and the ethical dilemmas associated with donation/transplantation. Organ shortage is the greatest challenge facing the field of organ transplantation in today’s world (Saidi, R., & Kenan, S., 2014). Ethical principles and regulation requirements often overlap.
Selling organs is a rising problem in the healthcare community, government and morality. Organ sales has become the topic of discussion for numerous reasons. Some of which being lowering the wait time on the organ transplant waitlist and taking advantage of the financially disadvantaged. This issue affects many people
“Each year almost 5,000 people die in the United States while waiting for organ transplants. Thus, cadaveric organs are extremely valuable resources whose allocation literally has life and death implications. Address how the following factors should be relevant to allocation (or whether they are indeed relevant at all): medical condition, probability of success, geographic location, waiting time, ability to pay, age, family status, and behavioral causes of organ failure” (Weimer, Vining, 201l, pg.155).
The organ shortage: To market, or not to market? Organ transplantation is a term that most people are familiar with. When a person develops the need for a new organ either due to an accident or disease, they receive a transplant, right? No, that 's not always right. When a person needs a new organ, they usually face a long term struggle that they may never see the end of, at least while they are alive. The demand for transplant organs is a challenging problem that many people are working to solve. Countries all over the world face the organ shortage epidemic, and they all have different laws regarding what can be done to solve it. However, no country has been able to create a successful plan without causing moral and ethical dilemmas.
Every day, 20 people die because they are unable to receive a vital organ transplant that they need to survive. Some of these people are on organ donation lists and some of them are not. The poor and minorities are disproportionately represented among those who do not receive the organs they need. In the United States alone, nearly 116,000 people are on waiting lists for vital organ transplants. Another name is added to this list every 10 minutes. This paper will argue that organ donation should not be optional. Every person who dies, or enters an irreversible vegetative state with little or no brain function, should have his or her organs-more specifically, those among the organs that are suitable for donation-harvested. A single healthy donor who has died can save up to eight lives (American Transplant Foundation).
With people making important decisions about their body every day the subject of organ donation becomes increasingly important. For years, the topic has been the source of many controversial debates regarding its ethical and moral ideations. Organ donation should remain voluntary for several reasons: first and foremost it is still considered a donation. Next, patients and their families should have the right to say no to medical procedures. And, lastly, bodily autonomy should be respected by healthcare professionals. Many argue, however, that organ donation should be mandatory as to decrease not only the time spent on an organ donation list but also the risks of mortality while waiting for a new organ. Families often have the final say in
Organ donation has remained the center of debate for years. This topic is something that generally has affected not only families of the organ donor but also nurses and doctors in the hospitals that are faced with difficult decisions regarding the right time to terminate a life. For a person to be a candidate for organ donation, they must die in a hospital, and their medical history must be considered. There are various organs that are in higher demand than others. Organ donation can certainly save a life or drastically improve the quality of another life. Many people claim that becoming an organ donor is the most altruistic behavior a person can engage in during their life. Those who oppose organ may be opposed for many reasons including religious reasons such as the Jewish Faith. Those of Jewish faith believe that the body is to be left whole in its entirety and that organ donation is not acceptable. A variety of other reasons exists as why people may be against organ donation.
Organ Transplantation and Ethical Considerations In February 2003, 17-year-old Jesica Santillan received a heart-lung transplant at Duke University Hospital that went badly awry because, by mistake, doctors used donor organs from a patient with a different blood type. The botched operation and subsequent unsuccessful retransplant opened a discussion in the media, in internet chat rooms, and in ethicists' circles regarding how we, in the United States, allocate the scarce commodity of organs for transplant. How do we go about allocating a future for people who will die without a transplant? How do we go about denying it? When so many are waiting for their shot at a life worth living, is it fair to grant multiple organs or multiple
This article holds that under certain circumstances, people should be allowed to donate their body parts to those who are in need. Three metaphors are presented to support the thesis. The gift metaphor holds that there is a general consensus that the body is a gift hence it is morally acceptable to donate them to people in need as a gift. The resource metaphor states that the state, authorities and the medical fraternity tend to perceive the body as a resource. The commodity metaphor holds that body organs are acutely scarce a situation that creates an extremely high demand from potential donors who are equally desperate to donate them to those in need. These metaphors suggest that donation of body parts to those in need is not only morally justifiable but also legally acceptable. It is very rational to donate a body part when the donor is well-informed that the transplant means giving life to another and that no suffering result from it. Organs are so valuable to be wasted because individuals neither think about the possibility of living after a transplant of after death.
Imagine seeing one who is on his or her death bed, struggling day by day to survive and having the power to change that. According to About Organ Donation “More than 120,000 people in the United States are waiting for organ transplants”(1). Individuals who could help with this problem the most effectively are brain dead patients. Being brain dead means the affected one's brain no longer sends signals to his or her body; thus, they no longer have any physical functions. Brain dead patients have no way to breathe on their own, so hospitals have machines breath for the person in order to keep the organs alive until the organs can be harvested. However, the problem is that some family members in charge of giving consent for their loved one’s organs to be harvested, are not giving consent, but rather letting the organs go to waste. Family members should give the consent to harvest organs from patients that are clinically brain dead because brain death is irreversible, the patients can no longer function, and one’s organs can extend a person’s life.