Opt Out Organ Donation

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 adult organ donations (which are the greater good) so that the number of lives saved would increase along with the quality of life, and also saves money and time.

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.

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

It is estimated that roughly 8,000 people die waiting on the transplant list each year. Our current system that resembles an opt-in system proves to be flawed considering it aids the tragic imbalance between need for and supply of transplantable organs. The President’s Commission on Bioethics has identified varying strategies for organ procurement that include the opt-out approach, a financial inducement model, and an organ market- and some scholars have suggested changing the standard of death to higher brain death. It is in my opinion that the most sound alternative to improve the organ deficit in the United States is to implement the opt-out model. This model promises an increase in transplantable organs that would in hopes off-set the many lives lost due to insufficient supply.

“There is a need to instil in people's hearts, especially in the hearts of the young, a genuine and deep appreciation of the need for brotherly love, a love that can find expression in the decision to become an organ donor.” Pope John Paul II stated in the Address to International Congress on Transplants. In a culture of death and self-centeredness it is important to prompt the youth to consider becoming an organ donor. The number of people in need of a transplant is growing quickly, and already is at a large rate. Eighteen people will die each day waiting for an organ transplant; more must be done to help these people, yet it must be within the standards of medical ethics.

This is an ongoing debate over whether the United States should adopt a presumed-consent organ donor system. The first organ donation was a skin graft. Skin is your only external organ. The organ transplant happened in 1869, and since then, the science and safety has gone up. The first internal organ transplant was a kidney transplant. One twin gave his identical brother one of his kidneys in 1954, almost 100 years after the first skin graft (Organ Transplantation 1). With advancing medical science, there are systems set in place to insure the safety of patients’ organs. The United States government has set up laws and regulations along

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

When looking at the current organ donation system, one can see it’s obvious flaws. Yet, there doesn't seem to be a way to solve the problems without wandering into ethically murky water. However there is a solution that avoids these problems. An opt-out system has various benefits which would make great progress to eliminating the organ shortage. Because of the massive organ shortage, which has resulted in death, the federal government ought to implement an opt-out organ donation system.

The Abouna’s (ibid) argument appears to be entirely convincing because some people may take into account the areas they live in are too far or remote, their poor economic conditions and other issues. And then, they are unwilling to donate for convenience and saving money. Hence, to solve this problem, Monaco (2006) states the government can provide burial fee, transportation cost, accommodation expenses, lost wages and other expenses as the economic subsidy for donors and relatives. Consequently, it will be useful to deal with the concerns of donors and families, and even can be able to raise the enthusiasm of the individuals on organ

The first successfully transplantation of an organ occurred in 1954, and since then the rates of organ donation have increased substantially (Welbourn, 2014). However, a big discrepancy exists between the amount of available organs and the quantity of people requiring one to survive. Thus, legislations have been made to minimize such discrepancy. Different countries have diverse copying mechanists on how to overcome this issue. Currently, Canada has the opt-in system in which any individual that wishes to become an organ donator may do so by registering (Eggertson, 2012). However, organ donation rates in Canada are quite small compared to other countries such as Spain, Belgium, or the United States – rates standing at 15.5 donors per million population in Canada compared to 35 PMP and 26 PMP in Spain and USA respectively in 2012 (Norris, 2011). Several countries worldwide have opted for an opt-out system in which individuals are presumed to have consent to be organ donors unless specified otherwise, and such countries have higher donor rates, but it is not known if the reason is specifically due to this presumed consent system (Norris, 2011). I believe that an opt-out system (presumed consent) would be beneficial in Canada because it addresses important ethical issues, including autonomy, beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence.

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.

Knowing the rate of supply and demand of organ donation helps in establishing a clear background about the issue. For instance, Monti (2009) explained the reality of supply and demand of kidneys. The supply of this organ coming from deceased and altruistic donors are not enough to support the demand of those individuals who are in need. Approximately there are 73,000 people who wait for kidney donations and 18 of those who are in the wait list will die by tomorrow. Accordingly, the list is being added by 6,000 individuals every year. An individual has to wait for five years before he/she can get an organ donation. The facts and figures presented by Monti shows that there is a big gap between the supply and demand of organ donations . The Center for Bioethics (2004) gave supplementary details on the issue of organ shortage. In their article “ethics of organ transplantation” they said that United Network for Organ Sharing or UNOS keeps a comprehensive figure on the present status of people who need organ transplants and presently there more than

Organ donation saves lives, and is a necessary part of the healthcare field. However, organ donation is failing to save as many lives as it could because of the low participation rates among the general population. There are numerous types of organ donation, and various organs that can be donated. Several issues need to be resolved and some systems need to be reformed to help increase the level of organ donation to meet demand. Several improvements such as creating an opt-out registration system, removing financial hardship obstacles for donors, and educating the public about organ donation could help remove some impediments from becoming a donor, and more lives will be saved.