Organ Transplant of Infants With Anencephaly: Arguments and Support

Since the first successful kidney transplant in 1954, the procedure has evolved from a risky experimental procedure to a relatively safe and standard procedure. Since then, doctors have been consistently raising the bar and have had success with numerous organ transplants, including hearts, lungs, livers, skin and even full facial transplants. Organs can be donated from the obvious, a deceased person, or from a cadaveric donor (someone who is declared brain dead) or from live donors. The transplantable organs from a live donor include the kidney, part of the lung and liver, and part of the eye, the cornea. The donor organs

Anencephaly is a congenital neurological disorder characterized by absence of the cerebrum and cerebellum, as well as the top of the skull, resulting in exposure of the brain stem. Even though the brain stem is exposed this does not mean that the babies brain or head is completely missing. This is considered one of the more serious birth defects that a baby can have because they baby will never have the brain power to grow and become an adult. Many of these babies are exposed to various infections and will only live up to one week even though some have lived up to one year at the most. Anencephalics are seen as a huge source of organ donation because they are not damaged like other babies such as babies who have been abused or babies that have been in car accidents. Many of these babies that need the organs of anencephalics are usually the ones who have heart defects. Parents such as Laura Campo heard about this type of donor possibility when she was pregnant at twenty four weeks and found out about her child being anencephalic there was no way for her to abort the baby because she was too far along. This resulted in Laura Campo going to the Florida District Court but since Laura’s baby girl who she named Theresa, by Harvard Law was not brain dead they were not allowed to use her organs for donation. The judge Estella Moriarty was begged by the family to pronounce her brain dead so they could save another child’s life but instead Theresa’s organs began to fail. Once her

The need for organ donations creates another ethical dilemma for Emergency Room Physicians. “Obtaining organs from emergency room patients has long been considered off-limits in the United States because of ethical and logistical concerns” (Stein, 2010). The shortage of organs available for transplant has caused many patients die while waiting. A pilot project from the federal government “has begun promoting an alternative that involves surgeons taking organs, within minutes, from patients whose hearts have stopped beating but who have not been declared brain-dead” (Stein, 2010). “The Uniform Determination of Death Act

Anencephaly is one of the neural tube defect and it is a serious birth defect that cause a baby to born with the absent of the brain and skull. In normal baby the formation and closing of neural tube will help form a normal brain and skull which is the upper part of neural tube along with spinal cord, and back bones which is the lower part of the neural tube. What happened in anencephaly Is that the upper part of the neural tube will not close probably all the way. This will cause the baby to be born with the absent of the front part of forebrain and the tanking part of the brain which is the cerebrum. The rest of the brain are often with neither skin nor bone

Organ transplant procedures should be moral correct in certain situation. I think it is totally depends on what organ needs for a patients. In our body some organ have one spare and some can be grow up more if we cut it partially and transplant to someone. However in terms of transplanting organ such as heart and lung brain is very complex process because a doctor has to kill one healthy person to save a life of sick patients. Which is not justifiable, it is unethical and morally wrong. However I would say it is ok to transplant organs like kidneys that have one extra on all human body and it will not function unless the active stop functioning. And donor will not have any health problem as long as he/she takes care of them-self. For example, I have gone through this kidneys transplant process just two years ago for my dad in back home. Even though it was not legal to do I bought a kidney with a person who was having very heavy financial difficulties to run his family and he was willing to sale his one kidney. Since then my dad does not even look like a kidney failure and donor him self look even healthier because now here care more about himself than before.

Organ donation is the process of removing and transplanting an organ (including the heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, intestine and pancreas) from a donor into a recipient who is ill or dying from organ failure (Organ and Tissue Authority 2014). While some organs can be removed with minimal harm to a living donor, such as a singular kidney or part of the liver, most can only be transplanted when the donor is considered medically dead. A patient who suffers cardiac arrest from which they cannot be resuscitated and an irreversible loss of function, or a patient with no brain activity are potential donors as their organs are still functional, but they have no ability to use them independently

The consequences of organ donation and ethical guidelines examined so far, only relate to Auto and Allografts in which the recipients and donors are only human and as such the guiding principles so far mentioned can only be applied to human donation. Yet currently there are investigations being made in another technique, which may bypass some of the ethical and moral concerns of human organ donation. This procedure is Xenotransplantation, although the technique has not yet been refined for common practice many people believe this to be a major improvement from human organ transplantation; but this technique does raise a multitude of issues and concerns from a wide range of people.

The number of people waiting for organ transplants is now at an all time high, with an average of 300 people being added to the transplant list each month. Even though the number of people in need of a transplant is so high, and with “95% of Americans are in favor of being a donor but only 54% are registered” (donatelife.net) doctors are forced to invent new life like artificial organs to save the lives of many. But, should there be an easier way to find organs for people in need? The next step is to explore whether or not it is ethical to use the organs from the unidentified dead (John or Jane Doe). The question some hospitals are facing is, can the organs of a John or Jane Doe be harvested to help another in need?

If somebody wanted to donate something while they were alive, instead of waiting till they die, there are also some organs that can be donated while they are living. While living people can donate their kidney, part of their pancreas, part of a lung, part of a liver, part of the intestine, bone marrow, and blood (Organ and Tissue Donation). Most people who donate organs or tissues while they are alive donate the organ or tissue to a family member or friend, but there are some cases where they donate it to someone they don’t know. Some of the organs can regenerate themselves and some can’t. If somebody donates and organ while they are alive that doesn’t regenerate itself, they are still able to survive without it. For example somebody can donate a whole kidney and be okay, because they have another one and

In conclusion, although legalizing human organs will lead to some bad results, I still think that this policy should be applied. May be the rate of criminal or some negative matters relate to ethical will exist but plenty of patients will be saved. In many circumstances, the life of human should be priority and there always have the suitable ways to solve the disadvantages or cons of a problem. Government should consider carefully providing appropriate policy that can help people who are waiting for organs and can protect people partly from

Let me introduce you first the definition of organ donation and some details of the history of

Imagine seeing one who is on his or her death bed, struggling day by day to survive and having the power to change that. According to About Organ Donation “More than 120,000 people in the United States are waiting for organ transplants”(1). Individuals who could help with this problem the most effectively are brain dead patients. Being brain dead means the affected one's brain no longer sends signals to his or her body; thus, they no longer have any physical functions. Brain dead patients have no way to breathe on their own, so hospitals have machines breath for the person in order to keep the organs alive until the organs can be harvested. However, the problem is that some family members in charge of giving consent for their loved one’s organs to be harvested, are not giving consent, but rather letting the organs go to waste. Family members should give the consent to harvest organs from patients that are clinically brain dead because brain death is irreversible, the patients can no longer function, and one’s organs can extend a person’s life.

The countries across the world have laws that prohibit the act of buying or selling of organs. In the United States of America, the 1984 National Organ Transplant Act prohibits the sale of human organs by both the livings donors and by the families of deceased is one example of these laws (Weekes n. p.). With “an average of 15 patients die every day in the United States whilst

Since the firsts successful organ transplant, thousands of recipients in the United States and throughout the world have had their lives extended and their health improved. Though organ transplantations have been very useful and successful, there are still major ethical issues surrounding the process. Fairly dividing resources has become very difficult because not everyone who needs organs transplant receive one. There is also a shortage of transplantable organs. To help minimize this shortage cadaveric organ donation should be greatly encouraged.

When someone makes the decision to save a life, it is important to know that organ donation is not one size fits all. Depending on a person’s situation, one person can save up to eight lives and improve the lives of over fifty people (About Tissue and Organ Donation). No one wants to think about the end of their life, but it is an important topic. A person’s personal situation at the time of their death makes a difference in what can be donated. In the case of a natural death one can donate their corneas, heart valves, skin, bones, tendons and bone marrow. If the brain passes on before the body, this is called brain death. If brain death is one’s fate, they can also donate their major organs - this includes the heart, liver, kidneys, lungs and pancreas. Most can donate regardless of age or medical history. However, the medical condition at the time of death would determine which organs and tissue could be donated (About Tissue and Organ Donation).