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Persuasive Essay On Organ Donation

Decent Essays

Every ten minutes a new person is added to the national organ transplant waiting list – a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, or a sister (1). As of September 2014, more than 123,000 people currently need an organ transplant. Surely if everyone was an organ donor, there would be more than enough viable organs for all of those people. However, because not everyone is indeed an organ donor, approximately 21 people die each day due to a lack of organs. Now this might not seem like a rather large number, but it amounts to about 7,000 people each year – people who could be saved. Statistics show that although 90% of Americans are in favor and support organ donation, only about 30% know the procedure to actually become an organ donor. …show more content…

In an opt-in system, a person would have to actively register to become an organ donor and therefore have their organs donated after death. On the other hand, in an opt-out system, a person’s organs will be donated after death unless a specific request is made before their death for their organs not to be donated. Here in the US, we currently operate under the opt-in system, in which a person has to consent to organ donation. Although I am a supporter of organ donation and do not see why other people wouldn’t want to donate their organs if they could possibly save someone else’s life, I do believe that everyone should have the right to decide what to do with their organs. Your body is yours – even in death – so I don’t believe that organ donation should be automatic and prior permission need not be required. Having said this, however, I believe that the opt-out system should be utilized due to the fact that if a person has not explicitly stated that they do not wish for their organs to be donated after death, then they should be given to someone on the transplant list. In other words, I believe that everyone has the right to deny for their organs to be donated for whatever personal reasons they may have, however, if they do not specifically deny this, then the organs should definitely be used to save someone else’s

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