Organ Donor

For over 13 year I have worked in healthcare and I have seen multiple patients die from organ failure as they waited on the transplant list. I’ve seen patients lose their quality of life as they sit in hospitals for weeks and months at a time as they waited for a kidney transplant. I also know people who have donated the organs of their loved ones and were blessed to know that their loss was the beginning of another person’s life.

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.

Currently, the United States has an opt-in policy, which means people only become donors if they decide to. Although this sounds like a decent policy, it does not compare to Spain where they have an opt-out policy, in which people must spcify they do not want to donate their organs, if they do not then they are automatically placed on the donor list. Spain “is widely considered the gold standard in organ donation because it has had the highest organ donation rate of any other country in the world, with 35.3 organ donors per million people. (This compares with 26 organ donors per million people in the United States.).” (Lupkin). While this may raise concern about following one’s wishes, “Spain still asks families whether they want to donate their loved ones' organs before they're harvested” (Lupkin). Spain’s policy has paved the way for an effective organ donor policy, which many countries have adopted. According to Dr. Rafael Matesanz of the Spanish National Transplant Organisation, what Spain calls the Spanish Model of Organ Donation, has allowed them to “create a model that has led Spain to lead the world in organ donation since 1992” (Ganikos 4). Spain has set an impressive precedent, but other countries have created policies that have also increased donation, like

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

The current system of the United States as well as most of Europe for organ obtaining is through presumed refusal, which is also known as the “opt-in” system. In this system a person’s organs cannot and, “will not be removed from his/her postmortem body unless he/she has explicitly consented to this being done.” (Taylor 383) Under this system, citizens must “opt-in” to become organ donors by registering to become donors. Consequently, this method of obtaining organs does not produce very many organs up for donation. This is true for a variety of reasons, which is why many are suggesting the United States should adopt a new system of presumed consent. Totally opposed to presumed refusal, “under presumed consent it is presumed that persons would prefer to donate their organs for transplantation after their death” (Taylor 383).

With the evolution of time variety of advanced and useful medical procedures to save lives have been discovered, one of which being organ donations. Now days patients suffering from serious and life threatening conditions have the option of getting their organs replaced; a second chance at life. It should be mandatory that all people, once they have died be organ and tissue donors because after death they no longer need or use their organs. Secondly, by simply donating you could save numerous lives and lastly, there are critical organ shortages within Canada which could be resolved if there were more donors available

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

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.

In the United States 123,289 people are on a waiting list for an organ donation (Organ and Tissue Donations, 2015). Out of these individuals, nearly 10 die each day waiting for an organ (All About Donation, 2015). The need for organ donation has increased dramatically with the many advances in medicine (FAQ, 2011). To be considered an organ donor in the United States one must sign a Uniform Donor Card, however, once an individual has deceased, the family must provide consent to participate in organ donation (Korschun, 2013). This creates inconsistencies as the wishes of the deceased are left in the families’ hands. If the deceased signed a Uniform Donor Card, wishing to have organs donated, why is this no longer valid once they are

As Richard Brodsky, a New York State senator, as stated, "What I've said to anybody, whether they like it or they don't like it, we can't sustain the current system."(Matthews). Foreign countries such as France, Spain, and Austria have the opt-in/opt-out system, and their amount of donors nearly meets the demand for organs (Matthews). The US currently has the Opt-In system, which is done by checking a little box when applying for a driver's license (Allfather). It is often ignored or looked over, causing people with viable organs to not be able to donate them even if they weren't against it. But if the US were to adopt and opt-out system, then someone saying they didn't want to be a donor would be as simple as checking that little box then applying for their license (Nelson, Murray). This system would make for many more available organs, and maybe even make the availability high enough to wear it meets the needs of the country.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, every ten minutes a name is added to the National Transplant waiting list. As of December 1, 2015, there are 122,477 people that need a lifesaving operation and are on the transplant waiting list. While on the waiting list, there is an average of 22 people that die every day. So far, only 23,134 transplants have been done in 2015. (U.S. Depart.of Health and Human Services) This incredibly low number of transplants is why more people should become organ donors. Choosing to become an organ donor provides the opportunity to save up to eight lives and improve the quality of life for many others with tissue donation. An organ donor can also provide comfort to the grieving family: the loss of the loved one will be helping others to live. Becoming an organ donor is much easier than many think. The decision can literally be done in just minutes.

It is said that ¨While about 80% of Americans support donation, there are fewer than 50% who agree to organ donation if approached upon the death of a family member¨ (Organ Donation). Doctors usually ask family members if it is okay to donate the organs, even if they say they are donors on their licence. The opt-out policy would allow you to donate your organs regardless of your family members saying no when approached upon your death. An opt-out policy is not the only thing that we can do to help increase the number of available organs.

When it comes to organ donation it is a valuable and honorable service that a dying person or family of the recently deceased can contribute to society. Once an organ becomes available, it is very important to find the most suitable candidate quickly; which is why tissue samples are taken and tests are ran to find the most biologically-suitable match. However, there are sometimes cases in which there is more than one suitable person. When these situations arise, the decision process becomes more complicated. As the lead surgeon of the hospital, it is my job to decide which candidate is best suited to receive the organ donation.