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

“6,935 people are dying because they had to wait. That’s 19 people dying per day for an entire year”(Barry). That’s nearly 7,000 lives; which is equivalent to to almost 25% of the current undergraduate body here at UW-Madison. According to Dr. Chris Barry, a transplant surgeon and researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center, “19 people die per day on the organ donor recipient list because there aren’t enough people signing their organ donor consent forms”. He proposes that we need to increase people's knowledge and tear down the myths and barriers of organ donation to facilitate their decision to donate.

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.

“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).

Organ donation could save the life of so many Individuals. One organ donor can save or significantly improve the lives of a minimum of seven others (Morgan, 2004). There has been a severe shortage in the availability of organ for transplantation. Presently, more than 40,000 patients in the United States are expecting organ transplants and it is guesstimated that about 60,000 people die yearly due to limited availability of organ for transplantation (Skumanich et al., 1996). The demand for organ donor is rising as transplant surgery turn out to be increasingly popular and successful in saving the lives of many individuals. Card

Over the years, organ donation challenges and demands increased inversely in proportion to the organ shortages. The primary mission of donor’s organizations is to save as many terminally ill recipients at the end stages of their lives as possible with an end goal of giving these recipients a normal a life span. The significance of organ donation is to restore an ailing person’s quality of life. The ongoing issue of organ shortages may be a symptom of the current program that present an idealistic portrait of how these issues may be resolved. As a result, the mission and ultimate goal of organizations such as UNOS and Donate Life America, among others, is to obtain viable organs for their patients and to promote; education, empower altruism and establish quality ethics, and act as a resource for existing and potential donors.

Organ donation is a wonderful idea to fulfil a critical need. Unfortunately 120,000 (American Transplant Foundation, 2017). This massive deficit resulted in 7,464 deaths back in 2005 alone(Pomfret, et

A question that is often asked is “Should a person be allowed to declare that their organs can only go to a certain race or religion?” The donation process offers two types of donation: indirect and direct. Indirect donation allows the individual to donate their organs and a random recipient will be chosen. Meanwhile, direct donation is where the donor chooses the recipient and thus can determine the race and religion of the person they would like to donate to. Inequality in direct donation cannot be controlled by the overall donation system as a whole because it is based off of personal preferences and choices made by the individual donor and does not represent the global process. However, organ donation systems are able to control discrimination with indirect donations. Conversely, multiple reports claim that discrimination is present in the indirect donation process. A book written by multiple medical experts reports that “Limited preliminary research shows that white males receive the majority of organs” (Caplan, Arthur L., James J. McCartney, and Daniel P. Reid. Replacement Parts: The Ethics of Procuring and Replacing Organs in Humans. Washington, DC: Georgetown UP, 2015.). While this report may be correct, the same book follows up by explaining that “Racial and gender disproportions are most likely based off of variables such as transportation, insurance, available donors, and awaiting recipients” (Caplan, Arthur L., James J. McCartney, and Daniel P. Reid. Replacement Parts: The Ethics of Procuring and Replacing Organs in Humans. Washington, DC: Georgetown UP, 2015.). Therefore, it can be concluded that the organ donation system does not have any obvious or intentional racial or sexual

Despite medical and technological advances, the demand for organs continues to be greater than the supply. “On average, 22 people die each day while waiting for a transplant, [and although] 95% of U.S. adults support organ donation, only 48% are actually [registered] as donors.”

I am personally extremely connected to this intensifying issue because I have witnessed first-hand both tragedy and great success involved with the both sides of organ donation through the lives of a donor and a recipient. Last year, one of my closest friend’s 12-year-old sister, Kenzie, tragically passed away unexpectedly from what was thought just to be a common migraine, but turned out to be so much more. I was forced to watch as one of my best friends, the rest of her family, and our entire town grieve her catastrophic death. This loss of life from someone who had only been here such a short time was

Different countries have different systems to organize organ donation. These systems are known as either “opt out” or “opt in”. The United States is currently under an “opt in” system which basically means that we assume that everyone does not wish to become an organ donor, unless is it made clear in their lifetime. An “opt out” system is one in which we assume that everyone wishes to become an organ donor after death, otherwise made explicitly known during lifetime. It is proposed that the solution to the organ shortage crisis in the United states is to adopt the opt out system. This system makes more sense because if a person is so passionate about not being a donor, they will voice that while they are living. Our current system does not encourage people to actually take the time to make a decision about being an organ donor or not. Instead, the system we currently have allows people to stay uninformed about decisions that could in the end give someone else a shot at living their life. An article written in the European Journal of Health Law talks about the bill of 2009 that allows presumed consent for organ donation in European countries. Lisa Cherkassky, Lecturer in Law, includes specifics details written in the bill such as, if a person during their lifetime has not “registered to an objection to his body” that after death, it will be “presumed that he [has] consented to such a donation.” In the US, we currently must register to donate, with a system like this, it would be the opposite (registering to not donate). Cherkassky also includes how the bill seeks to protect people as well when it comes to death, she says “unless two registered medical practitioners have satisfied themselves that the person is dead,” no organs will be allowed to be removed. Adopting a bill with a policy of protection

Innovative advances in the practice of medicine have increased the life span of the average American. This along with the growing population in the United States and has created a shortfall in the number of organs available for transplant today. The current system of allocation used to obtain organs for transplant faces difficulty because of two primary reasons according to Moon (2002). The two perceptions that stop potential organs donors are that the allocation criteria is unfair and favors certain members of society and/or that organs may be allocated to someone who has destroyed their organs by misuse (Moon, 2002). Many individuals decline to donate organs because anyone requiring an organ transplant is placed on a waiting list and it is possible that individuals who have destroyed their organs by their own actions or convicted criminals could receive donated organs before someone whose organs are failing through no fault of their own and positively contribute to society. When a celebrity or wealthy individual requires a transplant they are often viewed as "jumping" the waitlist but

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.

Donating an organ, whether it is before or after dead, is seen by society as the right thing to do, but at what cost. Being asked to become an organ donor right before getting our license is almost always a yes. Death is one of the farthest things from our mind and when we are asked this question we would rather live life knowing our organs could be used to save someone’s life. But this simple checkmark or heart can sometimes be used against us; because there are so many people waiting for an organ, doctors have been given the ability to stretch the fine line between life and death. Not signing the donor card can gives us a few more bargaining space. Although both Crystal Lombardo and Dick Teresi speak about the effects of organ donation, Lombardo, author of “11 Major Pros And Cons Of Organ Donation”, points out the importance of becoming an organ donor, while Teresi, author of “What You Lose When You Sign That Donor Card”, describes the complications between doctor and patient.

In the United States today, people lose their lives to many different causes. Though this is tragic, there are also a large group of people who could benefit from these deaths; and those people are people in need of an organ transplant. Although a sudden or tragic death can be heart breaking to a family, they could feel some relief by using their loved ones' organs to save the lives of many others. This act of kindness, though, can only be done with consent of both the victim and the family; making the donation of organs happen much less than is needed. The need for organs is growing every day, but the amount provided just is not keeping up. Because of the great lack of organ donors, the constant need for organs,