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Who Deserves Donated Organs Organ donation is one of the most heated social issues that have triggered a lot of controversial responses from different circles. It is a problem that raises a number of ethical questions that need to be answered. Within the course of this paper, we will elaborate on the three most important ethical issues associated with organ transplantation and donation: is it ethical to donate and transplant organs; is it ethical to take organs away from dead people with or without their presumed consent or consent of their family; what is the ethically correct way of placing people in the waiting lists for organ transplants. Those three crucial ethical problems will be elaborated upon based on ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, no maleficence, and justice. The number of organs available for transplantation are extremely scarce so there are many people who need an organ transplant, but will never receive one. It is simply not possible to supply a transplant organ to all the people that have a medical need for a transplant.
As a result, some propose radically new ideas to meet the demands of organs, some of which include the selling of human organs, and the cloning of humans to cultivate organs. (Gill, p. 24) If the justification for donating an organ is charity, then it seems ethically contradictory that one could sell his / her organs. The anatomical integrity of a human body is nearly perfect and should be sacrificed only for the highest of motives, which dose not include financial gains. Moreover, imagine the moral chaos that will ensue if organs were sold to the highest bidder. A person in dire poverty may need the money that would come from an organ donation to support his family. Sadly, society's inability to help him find better ways to support his family may actually force him to sell something that cannot be replaced. While, some argue that since people are paid for their blood, they should be paid for their organs as well, there is a difference between donating blood, which the body replaces, and donating an organ which is not replaced.
There is less risk in giving blood and hence their compensation could be justified with a less monetary motive. Even in this regard, I do believe that the nation would be better served if people were not paid for blood donations. Rather than offer an incentive of money, the motivation of helping other people should be actually promoted. Unfortunately, the motivation of helping ones fellow man has not been sufficient enough to generate the number of needed organs, which is why many scientists search for new ways to manufacture human organs. For example, two researchers have recently managed to manipulate the genes of tadpole clones in order to produce frogs without heads. Although this creation of a semi-life form has produced initially shock and horror among scientists, few scientists are interested in reprogramming an egg in such a way that it won't form a whole embryo, but only the organ you wanted as well as the heart and the circulatory system.
As a result, organs produced would be a perfect match for potential patients and the clones would effectively solve the problem of organ donations. On one side of the argument, though, lay the religious activists, who will oppose genetic experiments at all costs, since "the greater the degree to which we take control of that process, the more we seek to thwart the power of God. " (Bell, p. 336) Even though this is an extreme stance, these members of society value God's ability to create life as a precious, unique entity above everything else. In addition, most citizens and many scientists today are afraid of the enormous potential power within the human genome and the possible problems that may arise from its abuse. On the other hand, some scientists believe that the cloning of humans can provide organs for suffering patients that are unique only to that patient and will provide a compatible match. Some members of society also argue that cloning full human beings should be illegal, but the replacing of a dead child or helping to save a brother / sister dying of an incurable disease through organ or marrow transplant is ethically OK. In effect, the main question here lies in whether developments of this technology in effect risks our regard for human life, risks the sacredness of human life, and treats some humans as less worthy of protection than all humans deserve.
In conclusion, technology has created a problem that did not exist twenty years ago and hopefully will not exist twenty years from now. Currently society is forced to deal with the reality that people will die because there are not enough organs to save everyone. The scarcity of organs for transplant makes them a valuable and precious item. (Sade, p. 327) One possible solution to the debate is to genetically engineer specific organs from embryo cells, but not engineer the humans themselves. Although this practice may or may not be possible, this would solve all the potential ethical problems that would arise from the human aspects of cloning and seems to be a more ethical solution to organ transplantation than the selling of organs. In effect, this prevents human organs from becoming a commodity, which I believe to be unethical because it is contrary to the dignity of the human body / person entity, and if organs were available for purchase, mainly the wealthy population would truly benefit from organ transplant. The organ donation question must be asked immediately following the death, because time is a major player.
Major organs, like the heart and lungs, need to be removed from the body with 4 - 6 hours after death. Other organs, like the kidneys, must be removed 48 - 72 hours of death (Bell, p. 338). As a result of all of this, the demand for organs is growing faster than the rate of organ donation. The big question here is whether or not organs should be taken from the deceased without the prior written consent, or consent of the family.
James Nelson, who is an ethicist at a medical center in New York says, Every year, many people who could live productive lives with a transplant die before a replacement heart or liver; can be found. (Bell, p. 338) A presumed consent law would help save those live at virtually no cost to the person from whom the organs are taken. Currently, when a person dies, hospital staff members are required in most states to ask next of kin if they would donate the organs. But thats a terribly difficult time to be asking such a question, and many doctors and nurses simply dont. On the other hand, Thomas Murray, who is also an ethicist, but at a medical center in Cleveland believes Presumed consent is exactly that: presumptuous. I agree that organ donation is a moral good-even a moral duty. But the state is not justified in compelling us to fulfill every moral duty we have.
Unless Ive expressly told you its okay to take my organs, who are you to presume that I have given my okay? Part of the value of donating an organ comes from its being a gift. Its a powerful opportunity to find some good in tragedy, and thats why most families do say yes when asked. If you take away that opportunity for generosity and instead legally compel people to donate, something is lost-by the family and by society (Gozzetti, p. 407). I believe that a law should be passed that allows hospitals to remove organs from the deceased without prior written consent or consent of the family for a number of reasons: first, a dozen people die every day in the United States while waiting for organs that could possibly save their lives; second, we have tried the non-presumed consent approach, and it hasnt been working; and, third, imagine what it would be like if your were directly involved in such a situation. Organ transplantation is one of the most important advances in medicine in the last 30 years.
It allows people who would otherwise die or have a miserable quality of life to lead normal and productive lives if they could get a transplant. That is a big if. At any given time, dozens of people are waiting for a new lease on life, but many of them wont get it because not enough organs are available. People arent signing up to be organ donors. The number of people who are on a waiting list for organs is increasing faster than the number of people who are declaring themselves organ donors. I dont understand why this is the case.
I dont understand why people will not declare themselves as organ donors. Do they think they are going to need their organs why they die? It doesnt make sense. We are aware of this problem, but when people die, we put them in a casket and bury them with their organs, while at the same time somebody else is lying on their deathbed waiting for an organ that we just buried.
It is shame, but unfortunately this seems like this is a situation that we wont completely understand until we, or one of our family members is in this situation. Organ transplant societies are doing their best to raise organ-donor awareness. They lobbied the government for money, and received grants that enabled them to help educate the public. Also, the States have tried to get people to sign up as donors when they get their new drivers license. But neither one of these approaches seems to work. I think it is because they just dont have all the facts.
I didnt completely understand the organ deficiency problem until I started to research this topic. I think we should try a new approach, presumed consent. However, people dont seem to like the presumed consent law. They feel that when a relative of theirs dies, their organs (which are no longer working) belong to them. People feel that hospitals have no right to take their...
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