preview

Organ Donation : Organ Organs

Decent Essays

Organ Donation
Organ donation occurs when a failing or damaged organ, is replaced with a new organ, through a surgical operation. The two sources of organs for donation come from a deceased person and a living person. The organs that are received from a deceased person are called cadaveric organs. A person can indicate on his or her driver’s license if they want to be an organ donor after they die. There are some states that allow for family consent for organ removal, regardless if the deceased person indicated that, they wanted to be an organ donor after they die. The second source of organ donation comes from a living person. Living people can donate their organs to family members, close friends, or strangers. There are many non-profit organizations that promote organ donation to strangers, whom are in critical health situations and need an organ transplant in order to survive. The problem is that there is a shortage of available organs. The organ donation process presents ethical dilemmas that will be discussed in this essay, as well as, solutions, alternative solutions and, ultimately, a final solution, that will be evaluated in relation to the ethical problem. To begin, there is a timeline of historical events significant to organ donation. In 1954 the first successful kidney transplant was performed (Timeline of Events, n.d.). In that situation, a living donor gave a kidney to his identical twin. Many people were amazed that one twin could save another

Get Access