Joaquin Diaz
English 1302
Jaime Campbell
The first successful organ donation occurred in the 1950’s. However, in
ancient Greek history it is believed that skin grafting, and similar processes, were
being discovered. The donation of one single organ can save up to eight lives. Organ
donation is an important surgical procedure in today’s society because it helps
extend the lives of those in need, it helps give faith to family losing loved ones, and it
is a great way to help someone in need. Organ donation is extremely difficult to find
donors, and even harder to be matched with a donor. Having a market of human
organs will improve the donor system because shortens the waiting list for an
organ, will be efficient and quick, and save more lives. Consequences will be that
poor people will not be able to buy and organ and health insurance will end up more
expensive than what it is now.
The positive aspects of organ donations overrules that of the negative.
However, organ donations while the donor is alive can be a very painful, and
uncomfortable procedure. Also, donors do not get to always choose who their
organs goes to which can lead to ethical issues. What is organ donation? “Organ
donations is the donation of biological tissue or an organ of the human body, from a
living or dead person to a living recipient in need of a transplantation.” An estimated
eighteen people a day die for not being able to find a match for an organ donation,
and in the United States alone approximately 105,000 sit waiting for an organ to be
donated. Also, a majority of donors are diseased, and have a signed consent to have
their organs used for transplants. In order to donate an organ, one must be eighteen
years old, and without major medical issues or disease. Organ donors are in need
because the number of recipients desperately needing an organ surpasses the
number of organ donors.
There are a lot of ethics and morals involved in organ donations. While
donating an organ, a person typically does not know who or where the organ is
going to be donated. In this sense the donor must be open-minded and understand
that they could be helping a person with a different race, ethnicity, or religion.
“Jonathan Seglow who connects altruism to supererogation (acting beyond the call
of duty), if we have a duty to donate our organs (at least posthumously) then
donations cannot be altruistic in this sense”(Saunders, 2012, 368). David Heyd
brings about another ethical perspective he describes solidarity. “Solidarity has also
been more extensively theorized as ‘sympathy mediated by a belief in a common
project.’ It is, he notes, inherently partial, since we feel solidarity only for members
of a certain in-group, such as our nation.”(Saunders, 2012, 379). While solidarity is
restricted in its level of kindness, Altruism doesn’t have any limit and it goes as far as the
humanity action reaches its purpose of help. Adam Cureton argues that “solidarity may
manifest intrinsically valuable relationships, without being valuable in all
circumstances, for instance among Nazis.”(Saunders, 2012, 381). Organ donors,
usually donate with the intent of helping others. People willfully sign up, and donate
just because it is a positive cause. Donors should be aware that their organs can be
used for people of different cultures and classes. However, those who do not agree
to support different classes typically do not donate. It is important to have a wide
range of support and donations among different classes and ethnicity groups. This
importance is significant because people of all races need these organs. There is a
long waiting list for people in hospitals waiting for organs. Every human has a right
to live, and it is important to give every person a fair chance. If awareness is brought
to organ donations, a greater majority of the world will feel a civil right to donate.
Organ donations are not very common topics to talk about. However, if it affects
ones family or close loved one it becomes more familiarized. It is important to bring
awareness because organ donations can help fill the gap that is in between racial
tensions. Even though the intention of altruism is in the donors the standards or
parameters at the moment of the receiver designation could leave the donors in
another category of human intentions. The good is restricted to associate members
of a community in particular, such as region or a nation. Organs rarely go to the
neediest people globally. “When a given individual donates her organs, they will
usually go to fellow citizens, with whom she shares some common bonds. Some
donors may have their altruistic wishes frustrated by this, but others may wish only
to give to their fellow nationals,” (Saunders, 2012, 380). Acceptance to be donors
sometimes is restricted in cases as religion which it say that their bodies should be
buried intact. People invoke this sacrifice to refuse to donate organs. In certainly
way those who donate lose a little, comparing with others who don’t donate, and it
provides one reason to question when the donation is altruistic. an intrinsic effect
that will contribute with the fact of solidarism is the donation increase rate. “One
way to increase donation rates might be to offer registered donors some level of
priority when it comes to the allocation of organs.” Sanders suggest this method as
way to increase the donation rates, but he propose it as reward or compensation
that should be given to donors for their solidarity. This action will be interfere with
the altruistic purpose, but it will be increase the donation rate, which at the end is
the best consequence to help patients.
The black market is an underground market that is used to trade illegal products, organs
or even people. The organ black market exists because the people are willing to pay
anything for the organ. This makes people use the black market, as a primary source to
get an organ for that loved one in need. Parents are willing to pay ridiculous amounts of
money for a quick organ to save their kids. As a result in every year the number has
grown of people on the waiting list and the number has decreased of people that will
actually get an organ. The problem with buying from the black market is that those
organs are from people that have been kidnaped and killed. Through the years there has
been a number of reports of children disappearing and only to reappear with missing
organs. There are those who never come back home from the disappearance. Another
way the black markets get their organs is through illegal adoptions and once the kid is
already in their power they will kill it for their organs to sell.
In the other hand, through the years there has been an unbalance between the resource of
organs and the people on need of an organ. The organ system used today its great but the
main issue is that there are not enough donors. The balance inclines on the side of the
amount of people in need for human organ to save their lives. Legalization around the
organ donation system has been mention but they are not willing to make it true. Many
people are not in the favor of legalizing the market of human organs. But there are
infinite positive reasons why to do it. I am not saying the system we used today is bad but
at the end of the day there will be more people dead than saved because an organ
transplant. Fentiman states that, a member of the American psychological association,
“that voluntary organ donation should be replaced with a system of compensated
presumed consent. Although continuing advances in transplant technology have made it
possible for many people to benefit from transplants, the number of organs available for
donation has remained stubbornly insufficient.”
People have put into thought to legalize and have a market of human organs. Most of the
times there are more people in favor for not to legalize. Consequences will come but in
the far future doctors will be saving more lives and having people dying on the wait for
an organ. A great concern is that health insurance will be incredibly expensive, “Such
concerns affect the balance of considerations with regards to the acceptability of a market
in human organs. Significant health cost (because of particular surgical harms to vendor,
as well as other cost attendant to ineffective and inefficient organ allocation) would tip
the burden of proof against a market in organs. However, if the market is likely lead to a
greater organ availability, with organs of good quality and more efficient organ
procurement for transplantation.”
Marketing this preposition of huge legal market of organs will be a challenge but will run
from companies, banks for finance incase payment plans and police. Companies from
transportation, take care of organs and research of the recipient. Having a legal market
will not be easy but just imagine all the work opportunities. Banks will play an important
roll because will be in charge to check for people that can qualify for payment options
based on the income they have and if you qualify to go directly to the waiting list and to
be free. Research will be important as well because they will be in charge of have a better
market based on experiments to improve it.
The waiting list in the United States for any type of human organs is a long wait
that can be from some months to even more than a year. When an organ is finally found
to be compatible and be ready for a waiting patient, it does not mean that the patient life
is now saved. A human organ transplant from person to another person, besides that it has
to be compatible; the patient’s body can still reject the donated organ. As the recipient
immune system starts to attack foreign tissue of the donated organ, it may contain antigen
cells that may be foreign to the body (Adams, Kirk, and Larsen, 2011). It causes for the
recipient’s body to reject the organ and cause the patient upset and desperation as their
life is at risk. However, even when the patient is finally compatible with an organ, but the
organ rejected by the recipient; scientists are now trying to come up with new solutions to
fix this problem and hope for patients in the waiting list.
One of the new ideas that scientist have been trying lately is xenotransplantation.
Xenotransplantation is the process of transplanting organ or tissues between members of
different species. Scientists are now trying to find methods to examine which animals are
more compatible with humans, specially the organs that may be similar as the humans.
With the shortage of human organs going around [especially hearts]; scientists have now
looked towards one certain animal that has almost the same organ composition that
humans would have. What animals would do this you may ask, why pigs. With the help
of technology, scientists are attempting to manipulate the genes of pigs, which they have
done prior with baboons, to essentially create hybrids whose organs are compatible with
humans (Knapton, 2014). The pigs would be used as a blob of meat that harvest organs
that humans will be able to use. The point of this new hope is that they will be able to
create pigs with the specific type of DNA from the patient and create organs to that
person specifically. The reason being is that pigs grow at a fast rate, and have a fast
reproduction cycle. Like Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, MD mentions "Until we learn to
grow organs via tissue engineering, which is unlikely in the near future,
xenotransplantation seems to be a valid approach to supplement human organ
availability. Despite many setbacks over the years, recent genetic and immunologic
advancements have helped revitalized progress in the xenotransplantation field," (2014).
The hope is that there will be no rejection to the organ or small resistant from the immune
system of the patient, because it now has the DNA of the patient, that should make it
more compatible and if it was his/her own heart.
The questions are, will people approve of it, and will the transplants between
genetically pigs organs to humans be a business or a donation? The lives of thousands
depend on this answers. It all comes the morals of each other. For some people, they just
do not want any part of animals inside them; the idea of having an organ form an animal
disgust them. Then it comes to the animal protectors, like the organization People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) with the animal rights, would most likely to be
against it again in the 1990’s, when they called xenotransplantation “Frankenstein
science”(Agnew). So, organizations and points of people will give the answer to this
dilemma. Still, if it becomes legal, would it become a business? Would anyone that needs
an organ would be able to buy one, and how much would it cost. It still comes to the
beginning of this paper. If the sale of human organs become a legal, it would most likely
that people would only sell their kidneys for the money. But, if still the person cannot
find the organ that they need to survive, would they accept the organ that comes from the
pig to save their lives, and can they afford it? Most people will most likely say yes,
because they rather save their lives, at the cost of an animal. Is not the life of the animal
that matters, but the lives of the people. If we already eat the animal, why not also harvest
organs for the survival of humanity.
Xenotransplantation is not the only option in the future, bioengineering 3D
printing. This method is still in progress, but in the near future it can become real. It is
when a bio 3D printer is used to create items in 3D. The idea is to use a special ink called
bio-ink. They are to build layer of bio-ink tissues to construct tissue similar of an original
organic tissue that they want to make it off, like cartilage. The main tissues that are being
target are abdominal and breast for people that may need reconstruction in those areas
after the fight with cancer (Thomas 2014). Right now, it is still in the process to become
true and be used in the human body, but if they are able to create a bio-tissue that can be
used in the human body, there is a chance to create human organs.
A solid conclusion one of the most important part of a research paper. Organ
donation in its essence is based on an altruism feel, but most of the time the
procedures leave it in a solidarity category. The reforms and proposals to increase
organ donation and the benefits given to donors are increasing the rate of
donations. The organ black market is an incredible immoral and cruel. Many people are
affected from it but having no choice to save your loved one puts you into a very
desperate position. Legalizing the sell of organs its just a preposition but can improve our
donor system and the most important to save lives. The human organ legalization is a
crucial topic, which affects the United States. In a near future the legalization of
human organs can be approved, but still does not mean that they there will be
enough organs for everyone, especially hearts, So, scientist are working in two new
ideas to solve this problem, which are xenotransplantation and bioengineering 3D
prinking of human organs. Xenotransplantation can help minimize the people that
are in the waiting list, it is a controversial topic as animals’ rights are violated. Still,
in the technology, the bioengineering 3D printing with the use of bio-tissue can
come to save the lives of thousands if it becomes true in the future.