Dutch and Belgium Organ Donation Acts Essay example

The first organ donation was successfully performed in 1954 (Major). Since then, institutions have set up many regulations and processes that have saved many lives by allowing people to donate their organs, but government policies in the United States have set up laws that prevent individuals to make choices about their own bodies. The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) is a regulation that prevents those who prefer to profit from their donation. The purpose of the act was to, “prohibit the assignment of a monetary value to an organ for transplantation, thus preventing commercialization and ensuring some level of equity in access to organs” (Delmonico). “Punishment includes fines up to $50 000 and 5 years in prison” (Friedman). The only country that legalizes organs to be bought and sold is Iran. The Iranian government recognized the overwhelming increasing of resources needed for dialysis as more and more people were becoming ill, so the government decided to make it legal to pay citizens to have transplants mainly in the UK (Major). When a person is in need of an organ, doctors assess whether or not that person is eligible for a transplant (Bernard). Once they have been approved, the patient will be referred by the doctor to a transplant center where they evaluate the patient’s physical and mental health as well as the patient’s social support to clear the requirements for being considered a viable candidate for an organ transplant, and finding the right donor is all

In most countries that use this system, families or a close friend would still be informed and their opinion would be taken into account, Spain being a good example of a country that uses the so called soft opt-out system, there system lets the family play a big part in decision making at the time of death and their views are taken into account, this seems to work well for them as they have the highest number of donors with 33 deceased organ donors per million population. Eurobarometer European and Organ donation (2007),

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

England currently practices an opt-in system of organ donation. The waiting list for organ donor transplants exceeds 10,000 meaning that people are losing their lives everyday due to a shortage of donor organs. It has been suggested for a while that England adopts the opt-out system, in order to increase donation rates and decrease the number of people dying whilst waiting for an organ transplant. This systematic review aims to present the different ethical arguments supporting a change of organ donation system to opting-out instead of opting-in.

Currently, the United States has an opt-in policy, which means people only become donors if they decide to. Although this sounds like a decent policy, it does not compare to Spain where they have an opt-out policy, in which people must spcify they do not want to donate their organs, if they do not then they are automatically placed on the donor list. Spain “is widely considered the gold standard in organ donation because it has had the highest organ donation rate of any other country in the world, with 35.3 organ donors per million people. (This compares with 26 organ donors per million people in the United States.).” (Lupkin). While this may raise concern about following one’s wishes, “Spain still asks families whether they want to donate their loved ones' organs before they're harvested” (Lupkin). Spain’s policy has paved the way for an effective organ donor policy, which many countries have adopted. According to Dr. Rafael Matesanz of the Spanish National Transplant Organisation, what Spain calls the Spanish Model of Organ Donation, has allowed them to “create a model that has led Spain to lead the world in organ donation since 1992” (Ganikos 4). Spain has set an impressive precedent, but other countries have created policies that have also increased donation, like

Organ donation has the power to change a life ending incident into a life giving one. Throughout the United States many patients are suffering due to the lack of a vital organ, because there is more demand than supply of organs, many patients die without ever receiving one. Although organ donation saves many lives, there have been questions in regards to ethics that surround it. People are even making the argument that it should not be practiced. Another question that has surfaced is, how can organ donation be improved in the United States so that people in need of organs can receive them at a high rate? Even though organ donation in the United States has received criticism due to ethical dilemmas such as priority distribution, contributing to illegal harvesting and alternative sources; the possibilities of saving lives and giving people a second chance outweighs the potential consequences it holds. Organ donation is one of the most important modern day medical marble that needs to be better utilized United States.

Presumed Consent can increase overall organ donation rate which able to save more life in the community. In fact, higher organ donation rate guarantees greater overall number of organ number of organ transplant and lower demand on new organ supply. Furthermore, the number of death patient waiting for new organ can be reduced and many lives can be saved within presumed consent organ donation system. As published in BMC Medicine, stated that ‘opt-out consent (presumed consent) also associated with an increase in the total number of livers and kidneys transplant’. James Mclntosh (2014) has stated Spain is the most successful country that has the highest organ donation rate. The reason behind the success is that Spain fully make efficient use of media to spread across the public information about presumed consent organ donation to public. Furthermore, Spain also had transplant coordinator teams and better facility that would greatly aid the donors (James Mclntosh 2014). In other words, presumed consent can improve

The current system of the United States as well as most of Europe for organ obtaining is through presumed refusal, which is also known as the “opt-in” system. In this system a person’s organs cannot and, “will not be removed from his/her postmortem body unless he/she has explicitly consented to this being done.” (Taylor 383) Under this system, citizens must “opt-in” to become organ donors by registering to become donors. Consequently, this method of obtaining organs does not produce very many organs up for donation. This is true for a variety of reasons, which is why many are suggesting the United States should adopt a new system of presumed consent. Totally opposed to presumed refusal, “under presumed consent it is presumed that persons would prefer to donate their organs for transplantation after their death” (Taylor 383).

Both state and federal legislation has been put in place to provide the safest and most equitable system for allocation, distribution, and transplantation of donated organs” (HRSA, n.d.). Consent is required from a patient regardless of the intervention from a physical examination to organ donation. It can be given: Verbally-for example, by saying they are happy to have an X-ray or in writing-for example, by signing a consent form for surgery. There are two types of organ donation: living and deceased. Donated organs are given to someone who has damaged organs that need to be replaced. An organ transplant may save a person's life or significantly improve their health and quality of

People might believe that these defaults are suggestions by the government which means it is what is recommended

There are two different systems countries use to deal with organ donations. An opt-in system where the individual needs to register to donate their organs and an opt-out system where the individual will automatically become an organ donor unless they request otherwise. Researchers from the University of Nottingham, University of Stirling and Northumbria University in the United Kingdom investigated the organ donation systems of 48 countries for a period of 13 years - 23 using an opt-in system and 25 using an opt-out system. They discovered both positive and negative outcomes with both systems. The overall data they collected concluded that the countries using the opt-in system had a higher number of kidney donations for living donors but, overall the countries using the opt-out system had a higher rate of kidney donations and organ transplants.

Main Point 1: Organ donation is such a simple and selfless action one takes to save the lives of others. Now much of what we will we discuss, also applies to living donation, but we will focus on deceased donation. The number of patients waiting for organs far exceeds the number of people who have registered to become organ donors. According to UNOS, every 10 minutes, a new name is added to the national transplant list. 20 people die everyday from the lack of available organs. Just one deceased person, can save up to 8 lives, 9 lives if you split the liver. Now if you donate tissues, you can improve the lives of up to 50 people! The need for organ donation is growing every minute. You can see why we need to register.

As Richard Brodsky, a New York State senator, as stated, "What I've said to anybody, whether they like it or they don't like it, we can't sustain the current system."(Matthews). Foreign countries such as France, Spain, and Austria have the opt-in/opt-out system, and their amount of donors nearly meets the demand for organs (Matthews). The US currently has the Opt-In system, which is done by checking a little box when applying for a driver's license (Allfather). It is often ignored or looked over, causing people with viable organs to not be able to donate them even if they weren't against it. But if the US were to adopt and opt-out system, then someone saying they didn't want to be a donor would be as simple as checking that little box then applying for their license (Nelson, Murray). This system would make for many more available organs, and maybe even make the availability high enough to wear it meets the needs of the country.

Allocating the dispersion of donor organs can be difficult ethically and legally for healthcare workers. On one side they want to do right by their patient but they are bound by strict laws and medical guidelines. To speak economically there is simply and excess of demand over supply so many that need those organs will often go without or wait an excessive amount of time.

First of all, it is important to understand the history of organ donation. It is not only important to know the history, but to examine the differences between donation in the past and what it is like today. Although many forms of study are always improving, Medicine is one that is constantly and drastically changing. Throughout the past century, all practices of healthcare have changed almost completely. Through technology and brilliant minds, medicine has boomed in opportunities. When a sick individual would be sent home to die almost twenty years ago, there are now endless treatments and possibilities today. Along with the boom of