A Material Benefit of Donating Organs - Essay Example

(First 28 April Donating Organs for Cash In a survey to determine how people felt aboutkidney donations for cash incentives people had varying opinions about donating kidneys for patients who had severe kidney problems.  The larger percentage of people, forty-five percent, felt that it was acceptable to use money to convince people to donate their kidneys after they died.  However, in a similar web-based survey, conducted by Dr. Braden Manns and colleague in October 2011, to determine people’s willingness to accept cash for donating their organs in exchange for time and inconvenience of operations fourteen percent of the 2,004 people surveyed didn’t think that a cash incentive was a good idea. Organ donation affects many people and is a grave concern that they have to deal with.  Many people need heart and kidney transplants in order to live.  Dr. Braden Manns, Professor of Nephrology at the University of Canada said that the number of patients undergoing dialysis is more than the supply of organs available.  They are conducting surveys, as a result, to determine how to motivate organ donations. An “opt-in” organ donation program, which, based on a survey differs from a European model, was used in America.  In Europe, there were better results from an “opt-out” donation program in which relatives of a person, who opted not to donate, can still donate when he dies, since he has no physical control over his body after death.  Conversely in the “opt-out” program possible donors can donate their organs if they expressly told the medical professionals that they want to donate their organs and help those patients who need organ transplant.   Selling organs is illegal but the financial incentive is an attempt to reimburse those who incurred expenses to take care of dead donors.  Is this the same as selling organs? While there are people willing to risk it all to help other needy people the moral implications are that generally, most people are not willing to risk their lives to donate organs without compensation..  Additionally, since money is involved it will more often be viewed as selling organs even with the term “incentive” being used. For the bereaved family, the morality of accepting cash for donating their loved one’s organs is a personal issue for them to determine.  Medical professionals can help by highlighting the benefits of organ donation to sick people and the heroic deed of extending the life of a patient. Proposed Changes in Organ Donation Stir Debate by Rob Stein This two-day meeting according to host, Rob Stien addressed the improvement of guidelines, including on organ donation after a cardiac death and the increasing need by patients for organs.  Dr. Stuart Youngner, the United Network for Organ Sharing stated that people involved in taking care of a donor patient, must NOT be the same people who handle the organ procurement and this guideline has always existed since the beginning of organ transplants. The aim of the two-day meeting by UNOS, which runs the transplant system, is improvement but it may also raise concerns for patients, or relatives of a potential donor, whose only chance of survival is an organ donation.  As per the bioethicist, it’s hard for people, in these tough situations to make very difficult decisions about organ donation. . The health of the organ, once the patient dies, is also a top priority as organs have a very short life span.  In this respect Michael Grodin, bioethicist, stated that the new procedures might harm the organ. In cardiac death the patient must have been convinced, prior to death, to take his organs immediately in order to save them in the organ banks.  For a family who thinks that life-support can still save the patient a while longer, trying to convince them to harvest the patient’s organs quickly and give up on their loved one this decision might not be an easy decision. The positive effect of these new guidelines for obtaining organs from possible donors is protection for the rights of the patient about whether or not to donate his organs.  The proposition by Dr Stuart Younger and agreed upon by the group, strictly separates caretakers of the patient from members of the organ procurement organization. Our Discussion on a Child Who Denied a Lung Transplant Ten-year old Sarah Murnaghan, had waited for over a year for a lung, by June 2013 but was not given a transplant because no child donor was available.  She needed an adult organ to save her life. Adults were given the priority to get the available organs before children under 12 years old were allocated. Sarah, had end-stage cystic fibrosis but regardless of that condition, would not be given the organ she needed to survive. The article identifies the long wait by patients for organs and the tragic consequences of rigid policy.  Sarah was still lucky after the policy was reviewed by OPTN in 2005, children under 12 years can skip the long lines of transplant patients if they have an urgent medical need.  The “need-based” organ allocation system has remarkably lessened the number of patient who died. It was said the rate for patients’ death was cut by half. In 2004, the average waiting days for transplants was 800 – and in 2006, the changed rule had a very significant effect – patients have 130 days waiting for transplant that eventually gave them more chance to survive. Since Sarah’s case Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, reviewed and initiated changing the procedure of donating organs.  A result of personal issues Sarah’s advantage was cut and her family made a public appeal begging, anyone donating a lung to save the life of their severely ill child. Their petition garnered over 339,000 signatures asking for OPTIN to review the existing policy of organ allocation system for Sarah’s region! A federal judge ruling favored Sarah’s case. As a result, not only have the waiting and priority rule been amended – with the new ruling – patients whose circulatory system have shut down can be harvested for organs for the organ banks.  The types of allowed organ donors have been expanded too. Prior to the change, only donors who were brain-dead were accepted as allowed organ donors. Indeed, Sarah’s Murnaghan severe status has aided. Sarah received a priority for an organ transplant. She got the life she deserved. The Ethics of Organ Donation by Living Donors According to Truog, though transplant surgeons have been very careful in dealing with this operation, ethical problems in obtaining organs from living donors are still putting the donors’ life at risk. Consequently, the techniques for surgery were improved; it was slowly expanded while the rate of living donors increased in numbers because the demands for organ transplants were high. The three categories, as enumerated by Truog, of donation by living persons are: Directed donation to a loved one or friend. Nondirected donation – the donor gives his organ to the bank organs, where patients like Sarah, in the previous article, would benefit. Directed donation to a stranger – the donor will give his organ to a person whom he has no personal or emotional connection prior to There are both ethical and moral issues in all the categories of donations.  Ethically, for example, if a brother feels pressure to donate an organ to save his sister’s life he may consent without considering the consequences, to his own health, of the required surgery. There is also a concern of non-directed donation.  According to Truog, recently a man was obsessed with donating his possessions; such as, his wealth and his organs because he believed it as necessary as much as many people need food, water and air to live. Consequently, his radically altruistic belief would be harmful to him and could be fatal.  Then desperate actions of a family who advertised in the media for an organ donor raised additional concerns.  Though not illegal to donate to a stranger the transplant community objected because our organs are not intended for commercial exchange. This emphasised that people with more money and resources at their disposal were better able to create attention to their situation and would have more access to donations whereas, those with limited to no money would get little attention and less access to donations.  The question of fairness becomes evident, as donations should be awarded based on the severity of the patient.  Of course, there is also discrimination, concerns.  In the article a brain-dead Florida man chose to donate his organs to white patients only but what if a black person would die in minutes without a heart transplant, should a white person, not at risk to die, receive the transplant instead More so, MatchingDonors.com has helped several patients to have organ donors over the internet. This has proven to be more accessible. However, the medical director of the said website does not hold himself or the company as liable for any missed matching that may happen in the process.  As being said, dating websites are not responsible for their members “bad dates” and likewise his company is not responsible.  Consequently, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has overseen the website. Instead of considering the concept of MatchingDonors.com, as pioneering in this field of service, they plan to provide educational information to people who are willing to be living donors. This, aimed to develop a nationwide system for the allocation of organs using nondirected donation. After reading this informative article, our group thought that UNOS should consider building an official website similar to MatchingDonors.com that would ensure the accountability of such donation processes made by patients and living donors. In such a way, they can further disseminate to the public the ethical standards in choosing the most deserving patients for organ donations. Work Cited Stokes, Trivor. "Donating organs for cash sparks controversy." Fox News. Fox News Network, LLC, 28 Sep. 2012. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Stein, Rob. "Proposed Changes In Organ Donation Stir Debate." shots health news from NPR. NPR, 24 Jun. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Shen, Aviva. "Child With Weeks To Live Denied Lung Transplant Due To Controversial Organ Donation Policy." Think Progress. Center for American Progress Action Fund, 5 Jun. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Truog, Robert. "The Ethics of Organ Donation by Living Donors." The New England Journal for Medicine. Massachusetts Medical Society, 5 Aug. 2005. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. Read More