The Issue of Paid Organ Donation - Coursework Example

 The term ethics is one which is surrounded by controversy as there are many issues which have no completely right or wrong perspectives. As emotivists state, moral statements and actions can never be considered as objectively correct. This means that there are many viewpoints to moral issues and the opinions which one chooses to obtain are highly subjective. One issue that has been widely discussed is that of paid organ donations. One may consider this to be a means by which the multiple numbers of patients lying in different hospital departments may be able to improve their quality of life through organ donations. There is currently a long waiting list of patients and they could all benefit. With this in mind making the act of paid organ donation illegal seems as if individuals are being denied the means by which they can improve their health. However, there are also different precautions which must be taken and one must consider the negative aspects that may be associated with legalizing organ donation. This creates the possibility for numerous crimes and will further increase the number of organs that are attained illegally within the Red Market. In addition, scientists have shown that there is a substantial decrease in the quality of life when an individual has lost or is living with a particular organ. Organ donation is associated with some negative aspect; however, the benefits by far outweigh these features. In addressing such an issue it is advantageous to first assess the facts and objective matters surrounding the issue as choosing a side in this debate is subjective. It is evident with the number of waiting lists in different ICU departments that there is a scarcity in the number of available organs (Board, 13). Hence, any means by which the increase of available organs is restricted will lead to the worsening the current situation. The aim of the healthcare sector is to prevent harm to the patient and to do everything within the means of the organization to improve the health of the community. Hence, legalizing and facilitating for paid organ donation is a means by which the health of the patients can be improved and many lives can be saved. Therefore this illustrates that this process is more coherent with the Hippocratic Oath that is taken by health care professions. In addition, denying the payment for organs is a sign of double standards and also raises the question on why people are required to pay for other medical services (Petersen and Kasper, 451-457). There will be money involved in the transplantation of the organ anyway which can also be likened to the recipient buying the organ from the hospital hence nullifying the argument of the ethics that exist in selling or buying organs. Another reason why paid organ donation should be legalized is the fact that there are already available harvesting organizations which operate illegally and are surviving on the scarcity of available organs. The fact that these procedures are done illegally makes them more dangerous as the means to obtain them are unsupervised and hence to follow any safety regulations. Organ scarcity has also led to the increase in the cost of organ transplant and this has been increased by the fact that organ donation is illegal (Board, 13). Therefore, paid organ donation has the potential to increase the number of available organs and hence lead to the reduction in the number of illegal organ harvesting organizations. In addition, the increase in availability will result in a reduction of the prices hence reducing the financial burden on a community which already has problems with health care insurance (Tong et al., 429-437). The issue of saving money from paid organ donations has been discussed for several years and many studies have proved this hypothesis. A study carried out by the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology discovered that it would be more affordable to pay kidney donors $10 000 (Davis, 344-349). This was found to be advantageous due to an estimated increment of donations by more than 5%. This was also found to save the community approximately $320 for each patient (Davis, 344-349). The studies also discovered that if the appropriate strategies were implemented the payment could lead to the saving of thousands of dollars. This would also compensate for the expenses that would be incurred by the patient as dialysis costs more than $5000 a year (Davis, 344-349). The need to increase the availability of organs is essential as mentioned above the waiting lists are very long in almost every country. In the Unites States, there were approximately 98000 patients who were on the list and the absence of organs led to the death of 4500 patients (Mahillo et al., 1069-1074). This means that the issue of prohibiting organ donation can be held partially responsible for the deaths due to the absence in the available organs. In terms of the current organ donations, research has shown that there are fewer healthy organs being donated and these are often not viable for transplantation. Therefore, paid organ donation will also play a role in the improvement in the quality and number of success transplants due to the reduction in the likelihood of an organ rejection or an organ that will be non functional. However, the issue of organ donation is still controversial and even society has not fully accepted the placement of a price tag on organs. A survey that was carried out indicated that more than 65% of the population was willing to accept paid organ donation in the community. However, this level of acceptance was less prevalent among the physicians. From these only 25% stated that they would be willing to accept compensation for organ donation. This is ironic as medical practitioners are among the highest paid individuals and yet they oppose the issue of compensation for individuals who are providing a medical service (Board, 13). There were also some indications which showed that the majority of individuals who had previously stated that they oppose paid organ donation changed their minds when the money had been placed on the table. This also shows the high chances that the percentage of available organs will greatly increase if money is offered as it will now be a concrete offer. Individuals who are in opposition to paid organ donation also raise the issue that these donations are dangerous and could potentially start unethical bidding wars and further increase the activity of illegal organ harvesters. In addition, this would also lead to an increase in the exploitation of individuals who are financially vulnerable. In addition, individuals who are incompetent may also start to donate their organs due to their financial situation and this would lead to deterioration in the quality of life (Petersen and Kasper, 451-457). There are also insufficient studies that indicate the normality of life after organ donation. Though the donation of some body parts is not directly dangerous, this is a disruption in the physiological environment, hence, there are some homeostatic balances that are likely to be violated. In summation there are many people who oppose the issue of paid organ donation due to ethical implications and the potential dangers of abuse of the process. The risk can be acknowledged, however, there are measures involving stricter government control which can be done to regulate and potentially annihilate these possible risk factors. On the other hand, research has proven that paid organ donation has the possibility to increase the number of available organ and hence improve the outcome of transplant surgery, reduce the risk of organ rejection or malfunction and also make the process more affordable for both the hospital and the recipient. Works Cited Board, Sounding. "Ethical incentives—not payment—for organ donation." N Engl J Med 346.25 (2002). 13 Davis, Connie L. "How to increase living donation." Transplant International 24.4 (2011): 344-349. Mahillo, Beatriz, et al. "2009 Global Data in Organ Donation and Transplantation: Activities, Laws, and Organization." Transplantation 92.10 (2011): 1069-1074. Petersen, Thomas Søbirk, and Kasper Lippert-Rasmussen. "Ethics, organ donation and tax: a proposal." Journal of medical ethics 38.8 (2012): 451-457. Tong, Allison, et al. "Public awareness and attitudes to living organ donation: systematic review and integrative synthesis." Transplantation 96.5 (2013): 429-437. 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