Organ transplantation is an operation that is lifesaving and the technology that supports it is continually expanding. It has saved thousands of lives worldwide and has given hope to many people, especially for those who suffer of terminal and life threatening illnesses. It has also created several arguments of moral and legal issues in most countries around the world. In finding the ways to increase the rates of organ transplantation the people who make the laws have to take into account the floor in which the issue lays. Death and dieing are terms in which is difficult to get to agreements. This gets more complicated taking into account issues of consent, having to transplant organs quickly after death and the pressure of doing what is good for the community and not just the individual. In many places the regulatory systems require changes in order to increase the rates of transplantation but it is important to analyze if the presumed consent is the best way of achieving this goal. The greatest obstacle in organ transplantation is the scarcity of donors and organs. Generally patients can be expected to wait from one to three years for some organs and it is estimated that fifteen to thirty percent of the patients die before receiving the transplantation. The deaths do not result from the lack of potential donors but from the low rate of conversion from potential to actual donors. Low rates of organ donation are bad for programs that otherwise would save many lives. It is very important to discuss the ways in which the regulatory systems can be changed so that organ transplantation increases without affecting the autonomy of people and the bodily integrity. In many places the legislation on organ transplantation indicates that organs may be transplanted only if the person over the...
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To Donate or Not to Donate Have you talked to your family about being an organ donor, and is the back of your driver's license signed stating you are an organ donor? This is an important topic to be deeply considered. Organ substitution is a dramatic medical breakthrough for people with serious health problems, but it also raised dramatic social problems. The recipients desperate for a second chance at life wait on lists hoping their name will be called. Family members are asked to donate their organs because there are never enough donors. All transplant procedures are extremely expensive for the patients, the insurance companies, and the State and Federal Government, which often picks up the bill. Some surveillance procedures have been established to protect the personal rights of the recipients and the donors. The medical idea of organ substitution began nearly 50 years ago. The process has made remarkable progress within a short span of time. The first kidney transplant took in the early 1950's. Since that time transplants of the heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, and all vital organs have been made successful. Patients who suffer from defects with one or more of their vital organs wait on a list that is registered with the United Network of Organ Sharing. This is a tracking service founded in Richmond, Virginia in 1984. The network established an organ acquiring agency in each region of the United States to allow for registration of patients nationwide and provide for open sharing of organs. There are transplant units in or near every major city and almost every state university in the United States. The network also built a point system using strict medical credentials for the selection of final recipients. At least 23,000 Americans are on the waiting list of the United Network of Organ Sharing. The...
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Last year, more than 80,000 people nationally needed an organ transplant. But, there were only about 6,000 donations available from people who passed away. Organ donation can not only save lives, it can help heal those who lose loved ones. It's what some organ recipients call an act of unconditional love. There seems to be little reason to question the ethics behind transplanting organs. Apparently one of the greatest achievements of modern surgery, tens of thousands of people are given a new lease on life through the selfless act of others who choose to find hope in the midst of tragedy, literally giving of their own bodies in the effort to save others. This really is more appearance than fact, because right under the surface is a large amount of ethical dilemmas and contro Organ Donation and Transplants Imagine the thought of a close relative dying because they could not get a new organ transplanted into their body in time. The proposal to substitute diseased parts of the body with alternate parts is quite old. It is only in most recent times that this has become For valentine's day, you may have gotten your sweetie a box of heart-shaped candies. But if there ever were a chance, would you give your actual heart to save someone's life? Last year, more than 80,000 people nationally needed an organ transplant. But, there were only about 6,000 donations available from people who passed away. Organ donation can not only save lives, it can help heal those who lose loved ones. It's what some organ recipients call an act of unconditional love. There seems to be little reason to question the ethics behind transplanting organs. Apparently one of the greatest achievements of modern surgery, tens of thousands of people are given a new lease on life through the selfless act of others who choose to find hope in the midst of tragedy, literally giving of their own...
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Organ Transplant is surgery that transfers any type of organ from one person to another. Transplanted organs replace diseased, damaged, or destroyed body parts. They can help restore the health of a person who might otherwise die or be seriously disabled. In most developed countries, organ transplants have become an established form of treatment for a variety of diseases and injuries. Commonly transplanted organs include the heart, lungs, kidney, and liver. Most transplant operations last several hours, and most patients survive the operation. Patients usually remain in the hospital for 1 to 4 weeks, depending on the organ transplanted. Many patients die while awaiting organ transplants because the number of donors falls far short of the number needed. To save lives, health care professionals encourage more people to consider organ donation. Attitudes about organ donation vary among individuals in different nations. The United States and the United Kingdom, for example, rely on a policy called informed consent. In this approach, patients or their closest relatives must directly give permission for organs to be used for transplants. People can express their desire to donate organs at the time of their death by carrying a signed donor card or by marking a space provided on their driver's license. Cadaver organs are usually taken from someone who accidentally received a fatal head injury. After the accident, the brain dies, but the rest of the body is kept alive with a respirator or other artificial means. Once all brain activity stops, hospital staff or a representative of a local Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) may ask the family about organ donation. If the family agrees, the OPO begins a search for suitable recipients. After a recipient has been chosen, organs are removed from the donor and taken to recipients' hospitals. Meanwhile, the recipient is prepared for surgery. Because...
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Max O'Connor was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis at age 7 and a half. For the next two years hopes and prayers went out for a new lung to save the young child's life. Unfortunately, like so many other cases, a suitable lung could not be found in time, and Max died at the age of 9 during the summer of 2002. Lack of organ donation has become an upsetting statistic in the United States and is progressively becoming worse. Last year over 67,000 people died waiting for organ transplants, while the total number of fatal accidents figured more than 107,000 and suicide reached almost 27,000. Several proposals have been suggested to increase the number of participants for organ donation, including 'presumed consent' legislation, a mandate effect, accepting declared brain-dead patients, or using incentives in recognition for organ donation. Presumed consent and the mandate effect are the two most widely accepted proposals in the medical field and I strongly support putting either one into effect so to increase the number of lives that could be saved. Many foreign countries today (not including America) have what is called 'presumed consent': the assumption that every person who dies is automatically an organ donor unless otherwise stated. In his essay "We Must Have Presumed Consent" Larry Kramer fervently advocates the idea of 'Presumed Consent' for the United States. "[N]ot enough Americans," Kramer writes, "donate their organs to be used after they die. In many foreign countries, this extreme shortage does not exist because these countries (and they include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Norway, Singapore, and Spain) have…presumed consent organ collection system" (par.2). In America, you have to sign the back of your driver's license if you wish to be an organ donor, and even then, most centers still require permission from a family...
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One of the greatest miracles of modern medicine is the ability to successfully transplant human organs, such as kidneys, corneas and hearts, into human beings who would die otherwise. At this very moment, 48,000 people are waiting hopefully for organ transplants (Tenery 20). Seven of these unfortunates will die each day because there are no organs to be had (Hans 84). For them the wait is over. Today, I'm going to tell you why you should become an organ donor and perhaps save the life of one or more of these people. People whose organs don't function properly live half lives that affect not just themselves but everyone they love as well-- their children, their spouses, their mothers, fathers, family and friends. An individual whose kidneys don't function can't develop and cultivate a career. A child whose heart is weak can't get out and run with her friends. A man with a bad liver may not be able to keep his job. Thus candidates for organ donation feel guilty. They become invalids, unable to spend quality time with those they love, and fearful of the burden they are placing on their families. Let me make this real for you. Her name was Claire. She was the mother of two small children. When her kidneys stopped functioning, she felt that her life was over. Three times a week she spent half a day in dialysis and the rest of the day recovering from the procedure. She never had any energy and was always exhausted. Her illness added 20 years to her appearance and the constant battle with the side effects of the drugs took its toll. When she became a candidate for a kidney, she was happier than she'd ever been in her life. Unfortunately, she died before an organ became available. It's too late to save Claire, or to repair her children's lives, but there is something each of us can do to help others like her. We can carry a...
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The Ethics involved in Organ Transplants In today's society the need for organs to transplant is great. Few people question the ethics of organ transplants. The debate is over how to fulfill the great need for healthy organs. The transfer of organs and tissues from one body to another has become an important issue. Surgery involving organ transplantation is one of medicines greatest achievements. Thousands of people are given a longer life through the donation of organs. Transplant surgery has saved many lives in the last 40 years. The demand for healthy organs is a lot greater than the supply. This debate combines medicine with politics, ethics, research, religion and many other matters. Many questions come up in this debate. Should people be permitted to sell their organs? Should animals be sacrificed to save the lives of humans? Could cloning be considered as a future source of organs? How do we get organs, and how do we decide who will receive the implants? Could cloning be considered as a future source of organs? The search and transfer of organs and tissue from one body to another is an important issue. There are always fewer donors than recipients and thats why about 5,000 people die every year while waiting for new organs. In order to receive organs everyone is required to pay. Many poor people can't afford to go through the process. Transplants are procedures for those with lots f money or with lots of insurance. Is it fair to let the choice of who gets new organs to depend on social worth? Another issue is should alcoholics be denied liver transplants. Many believe they should be denied because they could have avoided the situation and are partly responsible for the damage. Other questions arise when debating organ transplantation from the dead. There is controversy over when death really occurs. Is it when the heart and lungs stop or when the brain stops...
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Each day thousands of lives are threatened and sometimes lost from food-borne illnesses, or waiting for organ donations. It is reported by the Center for Disease Control that each year there are approximately 76 million cases of people infected with food-borne illnesses. ("Food-borne Illnesses", 1) Another source, The Gift of Life Foundation, indicates that over eighty thousand patients are currently on waiting lists for transplants. ("Organ Donor Awareness", 1) Which makes me wonder why anyone would protest or question animal cloning as a viable solutions to these problems. First of all, of the thousands of men, women and children on waiting lists, only twenty two thousand people received organ donations. From the remaining fifty eight thousand, six thousand died and the rest are still waiting for a life saving organ. ("Organ Donor Awareness", 1) The solution for organ shortages lies in the continuation of research of using animal organs in human transplant patients. One goal of the Human Genome Project researchers is to reproduce organs suitable and compatible for humans. This occurs by genetically altering organs created from single cells and adding human proteins. ("Cloning Fact Sheet", 2) Without this research, we will never know how many lives could have been saved. Secondly, another benefit of animal cloning would be improving the quality of the food we eat. As I stated earlier, many people have suffered from food-borne illnesses, some leading to death. The cause of these illnesses are bacteria's found in many meats. The bacteria's result from improper slaughtering, handling of meats, and undercooked meat. Many of the illnesses are left untreated, because people pass the symptoms off as the flu or minor indigestion. One bacterium in particular, Campylobacter, often found in chicken, can lead to a severe neurological disease called Guillain Barre Syndrome. ("Food-borne Illnesses", 2) With animal cloning, animals...
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Honor's Project- Rough Draft In recent years, there have been many advances in the field of biotechnology. With these advances, have come the arguments of how this information should be used, and how ethical these new processes might be. One of these processes includes xenotransplantation. Xenotransplantation is a process in which animal organs are used for vital organ transplants to humans. This process is controversial for obvious reasons, but requires further examination. Besides just vital organs, there are many other types of transplants that can also be performed. These transplants include skin grafts, corneal transplants, and bone transplants. This is done to try to solve the worldwide problem of the shortage in human organs. The amount of organs available cannot compare to the amount of organs needed, therefore xenotransplantation is performed, and a human can receive a vital organ or other life saving material from an animal. Xenotransplantation could also be used to cure other diseases where there is a shortage of human materials available. These incurable diseases include diabetes, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's disease. Currently, there are no existing cures for these diseases. This new process has caused many arguments concerning how ethical the exploration into this new surgery really can be. Many people argue that research on this project should be continued because it has the potential to save millions of lives and cure multiple medical problems. But others think that research in this field should end immediately because of the people and animals that might suffer in order to perfect this surgery. Xenotransplantation is a surgery that could be very beneficial to mankind; therefore research in this area should be continued. Approximately ten people die each day waiting for the transplant of a vital organ in the United States alone . Xenotransplantation could be a safe way to solve this...
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Banning on human and organ cloning is posing a problem on those educated ones in academia. Researcher and scientist Dr. Ian Wilmut has successfully cloned a sheep, and has gathered from this experiment evidence that strongly proves that human and organ cloning could be performed – safely and effectively. Unfortunately, our government has almost immediately banned such cloning in this country. Did they realize the benefits of such a discovery? Perhaps they simply believe that it is some sort of unethical, immoral experiment that is not beneficial to our society. Perhaps they should take a closer look at exactly what these researchers have derived from years of experimenting. In this paper, I will propose a possible plan to persuade our government to take another look at human and organ cloning. Many positive benefits could come out of this, and it is our responsibility, for the sake of a healthier future, to push policy makers to change their minds and loosen their grips on such a banning. Cloning of various organisms has been going on for years. This concept of cloning was conceived in 1938, but it was not until 1994 that a method using an embryo was used to clone a cow (Business Week). Much to many people's surprise, the idea of cloning humans is not an aged concept. It is fairly new, but that hardly means that the amount, or rather quality, of research to support safe human and/or organ cloning, is poor. This bioethical issue is quite debatable, and it has caused further debate, especially after the March 4, 1997 banning of the use of federal funds for research leading to human cloning (Time). The government was pressured. Due to time restrictions, they had to make a challenging decision on whether or not to ban human cloning in...
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