Organ Donation And Opt-Out Policy Analysis

“The principle of nonmaleficence states that we should act in ways that do not inflict evil or cause harm to others” (Morrison, 2011). Specifically, we should not cause preventable or intentional harm. The principle of nonmaleficence can be applied to transplant allocation because the modern array of medical interventions has the capacity to do good or harm, or both, thereby involving principles of nonmaleficence. An example of this would be the procurement of an organ though exploitation of payment to the

 The opt-in system is based on the view that every person has a choice whether or not to go on the organ donation register, and in this system of donation in most cases the family or another person close of the person who is dying will have the last say whether or not any organs or tissues can be taken.

Canada is an exceptionally multicultural country that acknowledges all religious affiliations and embraces all cultures (“Chapter 7: Organ Donation » The Canadian Bioethics Companion,” n.d.). Given the pluralistic nature of the country, it is important to acknowledge that immigrants are likely to preserve their religious concerns abroad (Lam & McCullough, 2000). In doing so, religion is often cited as a barrier to organ donation (Gallup, 1993). Those that cite religion as a reason to withhold consent to organ donation list various obstacles that influence their final decision. According to Radecki & Jacard, these barriers include fear that organ donation will delay funeral proceedings and prevent an open casket funeral, and that the absence of certain organs at the end of this life will have detrimental effects in the afterlife (1997). Despite these commonly misconstrued concerns, most major world religions

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.

In Sally Satel 's “When Altruism Isn 't Moral” discusses the problem with the outrageous expectation the healthcare system has for organ donation and reception. Satel says “it is lethally obvious that altruism is not a valid basis for transplant policy. If we keep thinking of organs solely as gifts, there will never be enough of them.” I agree with Satel; the social requirements that a donor has to meet before being able to donate an organ is too restricted and is one of the many issues with our current mindset when it come to the care of the dying. As well as having obnoxious requirements in the altruism-only system of donating, the actual system is faulty. This altruism-only system causes social dilemmas and problems not unlike the ones that people fear with a compensation/incentive donation program.

Throughout time Organ transplanting has been an important medical procedure that has been present, not only in the United States, but around the globe. It is the process of surgically removing an organ from on patient and then transplanting it into the other. This practice is usually used when a recipient’s own organ fails to function properly or has

Presumed consent is also referred to as the “opt-out” system because individuals would have the option of opting out of the system and not donating their organs. On a moral level, the debate between presumed refusal and presumed consent seeks to achieve the fundamental goal of organ donation. The goal is to show that their respective systems of organ obtainment are morally and economically superior to the other methods.

Organ donation is the medical process of voluntarily giving one or more of your organs to someone in need, whether it be someone you know or a stranger. It is strictly voluntary, no payment for the organ/s will be given from the hospital, the recipient or the recipients family. In organ donation, there are two types of donations, living organ donation and deceased organ donation. Living organ donation is when the donor is still alive and voluntarily chooses to donate one or more of their organs to a recipient(s) in need. Whereas, deceased organ donation happens after the donor has passed away, and consent was given to be able to donate their organs.

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

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

Organ/tissue donation from the living requires that the donors be physically and mentally in good health. Some medical condition can prevent the donor from donating organ/tissue to recipients. You can either know the person whom you would like to donate to or either contact a transplant center to begin with the medical screening process. Medical screening process would involve blood work to see if you are compatible with the recipient. A team known as the Independent Donor Advocate assist with the donation process (www.UNOS.org).

It does not seem right that an organ donor should be expected to risk their health and life with absolutely no consideration afforded to the potential consequences that may be inflicted upon the donor.

Generally, there are more patients on a waiting list for organs than there are organ donors, which cause a vast shortage in organ donation (Bilgel, 2012). In 2014 in Wales, there were 220 patients on the transplant waiting list, but deceased donor transplants only had 129 (NHS, 2016). It is truly a significant disparity. Thus, a new opt-out organ donation was enacted in Human Transplantation Act of Wales in 2013 to solve this issue, which was implemented in 2015. The opt-out organ donation is defined as those aged 18 or over who choose to do nothing, and have lived in Wales for more than 12 months, will be regarded as having consented to organ donation. What’s more, this system is a soft one means where relatives' views are sought, although

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).

Organ donation is the process of giving an organ or a part of an organ for the purpose of transplantation into another person. However in the United States an average of twenty one people die each day waiting for transplants due to shortages of donated organs according to the Government run website Organdoner.gov. It 's not as though the others will eventually get kidneys if they just wait, sustained in the meantime by dialysis. In the next year, nearly four thousand of those patients will die waiting. At least twelve hundred others will eventually end up off the list because they develop complications that make them too sick to withstand a transplant. Unfortunately for transplant patients that number continues to rise today, data and graphs on the governments’ website show us falling farther and farther behind on donations. If True justice would say that everyone has an equal right to live. In order to maintain this justice, Society must have an obligation to ensure that every race, culture, ethnicity or economical background has equal access to medical benefits. So is there an alternative solution to this growing crisis? One main alternative is the presumed consent system that is in place in a few countries around the world. Presumed consent is known as an 'opt-out ' system and means that unless the deceased has expressed a wish in life not to be an organ donor then consent will be assumed and their organs will be donated.