Organ Donation in the USA - Essay Example

Organ Donation in the USAIntroductionOrgan donation is the process where a body tissue of a human being, dead or alive, is donated to a living recipient who is in need of a surgical transplant to fix their non-functional organ. Organ donations have helped saved many lives in the medical world, which is likely to give the recipient a second chance of living. On the other hand, organ donations give hope to people who might be facing similar biological problems. Organ transplant has helped save many lives and for the reason I decided to choose this topic to discuss the benefits and challenges the organ donation system is facing.

Organ Donation I have learnt that in the United States only, there are more than 20,000 organ transplants performed every year, but this has not entirely solved the challenges facing organ donations in the medical field (Brezina, 2010). The first organ transplant experiments caused controversies where people who did not believe the procedure to be possible. Organ transplant is facing challenges from religion, philosophy, and politics and in the field of medicine. Quite a number of people are in need of organ transplants, for instance, in the United States, there are citizens in need of organ transplants such as people who have organ failure who may die, and this has raised questions about the organ donation system (Brezina, 2010).

This led to the committee in charge of the organ donation to consider a number of approaches to increase the number of donors to sustain the need of patients suffering from organ failure. One of the approaches the committee had was the registration of the donor, intentions being to solve the issue of conflict between the next of kin and the medical committee avoiding time wasting (Price, 2000). The financial incentive for choosing to be a donor is another approach. Organs have diverse waiting times because their need varies and from statistics, kidneys have longer waiting times than other organ transplant.

Research shows that there is a deficiency of obtainable organs including tissue transplants. Organ transplant involves a complex line of interactions. Among them are the patients, family members, medical professionals, organ procurement and transplant coordinators, the hospital where the donation takes place, the organ procurement organization that facilitates the acquisition and distribution of the organs, and the transplant center (Brezina, 2010). The organ donation system has focused mostly on deceased donors whose death has been determined by neurologic criteria.

This practice has increased organ transplant efficient. The opportunity to decide whether to be a donor should be part of end-of-life decision. Being an organ donor can make a very big difference in many people. People’s lives are saved through the donation of organs. The donor’s family will make their loss bearable after they have known that their family member helped saved lives thus making a difference to in the society. The donor did this positive action. For the person receiving the organ, then he or she is able to live and he or she will help another patient in need of an organ.

The patient also gives hope to others waiting for an organ transplant, and for these reasons, I would agree to choose this for myself or my family members to be a donor and save lives knowing that, somewhere someone is able to live because we made a difference.ReferencesBrezina, C. (2010). Organ donation: Risks, rewards, and research. New York: Rosen Pub.Price, D. P. T. (2000). Legal and ethical aspects of organ transplantation. Cambridge [u.a.: University Press.