Effects on Organ Donation

Today we are in great need of a solution to solve the problem of the shortage of human organs available for transplant. The website for Donate Life America estimates that in the United States over 100 people per day are added to the current list of over 100,000 men, women, and children that are waiting for life-saving transplants. Sadly enough, approximately 18 people a day on that list die just because they cannot outlive the wait for the organ that they so desperately need to survive. James Burdick, director of the Division of Transplantation for the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services confirms, “The need for organ transplants continues to grow and this demand continues to outpace the supply of transplantable organs”. The

Since the first successful kidney transplant in 1954, the procedure has evolved from a risky experimental procedure to a relatively safe and standard procedure. Since then, doctors have been consistently raising the bar and have had success with numerous organ transplants, including hearts, lungs, livers, skin and even full facial transplants. Organs can be donated from the obvious, a deceased person, or from a cadaveric donor (someone who is declared brain dead) or from live donors. The transplantable organs from a live donor include the kidney, part of the lung and liver, and part of the eye, the cornea. The donor organs

1. If I agree to donate my organs, the hospital won’t work as hard to save my life: When you go to hospitals for treatment, doctors focus on saving your life, not someone else’s, and the doctor in charge of your care has nothing to do with transplantation.

In living organ donation, before a donor can donate there are tests administrated to see if the donor is suitable to donate. There is an evaluation of the donor done to make sure that no physical, psychological, or emotional harm will happen to them before, during, or after donating (Organdonor.gov U.S. Government Information on Organ Donation and Transplantation). In living organ donation, most donations happen within family members, or between close friends, although there are stranger donations that happen. Living organ donors should generally be physically fit, in good health, and between the ages of 18 to 60. They should not have a history or have diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, kidney disease, or heart disease

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

The donor’s body is highly monitored to assure that the organs are kept alive for the patient. The organs cannot be preserved very long once outside the body. The special transplant medical teams must arrive to the hospital quickly. Some organ’s preservation time is longer than others, for example a kidney can be preserved for up to 72 hours outside of the body. Livers can be preserved for up to 24 hours. On the other hand, hearts and lungs can only last up to four hours (“How Does the Donor Process Work?”).

There are many operations available to save someone including organ, tissue, and vascularized composite allograft transplants (VCAs). Vascularized composite allografts and tissue transplants must be done with a deceased donor since they technically do not need them anymore, and are usually hands and faces, they can also donate organs with a deceased donor. VCAs require special permission from a donor since they are such invasive operations. Usually being hand and face transplants but they are not limited to that, these are transplants of multiple scructures such as skin, bone, muscle, blood vessels, nerves, and connective tissues. Deceased donors can donate tissue, organs such as heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, intestines, corneas, and bones (Organ Donation Statistics).

Putting all of the facts aside, people have their own opinions about organ donation. Some may believe that there is no value in donating their organs to someone who only has hours left to live, but there is life. Life is the most valuable gift anyone can receive. So with this being said, organ donation should no longer be a choice but

You can also be a living donor, you can donate partial kidney, partial lung, pancreas, intestine, bone marrow ,skin tissue,

For organ donation after death, a medical assessment will be done to determine what organs can be donated.

Main Point 2: Myths, we have all heard some, we have all believed some. But right now, I am going to set the record straight about some of the misconceptions surrounding organ donation. Organdonor.gov will tell you about many facts and myths about organ donation. So let’s start with money. I’m sure you have all heard that when a someone donates their organs, their family has to foot the bill for all it. That is completely false. There is no cost to donors or their families for organ or tissue donation. Hence the word “donation”. The donor won’t be able to have

When contemplating to donate, many different organs can be donated. These are only some of the possible organs that can be donated. A heart valve, intestines, bones, and tendons (“What Organs Can Be”). Some other organs are the kidneys, heart, lungs, liver, small bowel, and the pancreas (“Frequently Asked Questions”). And finally bone marrow, and connective tissues can be donated (“Organ Donation and Transplantation”). When a person is living and they want to donate, they can donate one kidney, one lung, a portion of their liver, a pancreas, and part of their intestine (“What Can be Donated”). When someone passes away and is a deceased donor, they can donate every thing listed above, and not just a portion of one (“What Can Be Donated”).

If somebody is brain dead they can donate their heart, intestines, kidneys, liver, lungs, and pancreas. If somebody dies from a different cause they will most likely be able to donate their tissues. After death people can donate their bones, cartilage, corneas, fascia, heart valves, ligaments, pericardium, skin, tendons, and veins (What can be donated). “People can recover from comas, but not brain death. Coma and brain death are not the same. Brain death is final” (Learn the Facts). Many people worry that their loved one is in a coma and not brain dead, or that their brain will start functioning at any second. It can be hard to accept brain death.

Although many people think that if you are an organ donor doctors won’t try as hard to save your life, but that is not the case at all. According to an article from World of Health “A wish to donate organs for transplant will not reduce efforts to save a patient’s life. Organs will not be removed until all life-saving efforts have

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