Importance of Organ Donation Essay

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Society should be more aware of the importance of organ donation. Organ donation is considered the gift of life and it is a selfless act that many people appreciate. This procedure allows another person a second chance in life. Also, an organ can fail at any moment and it happens when a person least expects it. Each day the wait list for an organ grows rapidly and there are not enough donors. A single donor can save many lives alone, and these organs give people another chance at life.

Organ donation is a topic that contains many conflicting views. To some of the public population organ donation is a genuine way of saving the life of another, to some, it is mistrusted, and to others, it is not fully understood. Some techniques can be used to increase donations. Of these techniques, the most crucial would be being educated. For example, if the life-threatening and critical shortage of organs was fully understood by society, organ donation would be more likely to be on the rise. An effort is needed throughout the world to make people aware of the benefits the process contains.

Subtopic 1A: In the 18th century, researchers started their experiments on organ transplantation. For example, doctors were attempting to save patients dying of renal failure by transplanting kidneys from various animals. But, sadly none of the recipients lived more than a few days. There were so many failures over the years. But, by the mid-20th century, scientists were performing successful organ transplants. An article titled ‘Organ Donation.’ by Downing, Kimberly A. from the Science and Politics: An A-to-Z Guide to Issues and Controversies, Brent S. Steele, CQ Press, 1st edition, 2014. Credo Reference, The first successful kidney transplant was performed in 1954. This was followed by successful transplants of combined kidney/pancreas (1966), liver (1967), heart (1968), and isolated pancreas transplant (1968),(United Network of Organ Sharing [UNOS] 2012a).

Subtopic 1B: The first successful organ transplant happened more than 50 years ago. Monday, December. 23, will be the 50th anniversary of the first successful organ transplant, a kidney transplant from a living donor performed in Boston in 1954. Next, over the last five decades, surgeons have learned how to transplant virtually every vital organ in the human body. They have also branched out to transplant an array of nonvital body parts including, most recently, the hand. Also, face transplants became a very controversial subject, but it became a reality. According to a website, Guerrieri, Jen. Face Transplants: The Changing Face of Medicine. Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, 14 Aug. 2018, https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2018/08/14/face-transplants-the-changing-face-of-medicine/. In 2008, Cleveland Clinic became the first hospital in the United States to perform a near-total face transplant and remains one of just six U.S. institutions to have conducted the surgical procedure. Considering the growth of transplantation from ground zero to its present state seemed like a fairy tale, a fantasy that became reality because of the courage of donating to patients.

Subtopic 2A: Every day, people of all ages and backgrounds become recipients and donors of organs. Many Lives are transformed. Donor families turn a loss into hope. One of the stories that interested me was from an article titled A Gift that keeps on Giving by Sarah Webb from the Points Of View Reference Center states, that Ashton L., 17, of Mount Airy, Md., plays baseball and is learning to drive. But just five years ago, he was too sick to go to school. Ashton was born with a digestive disorder, so as a young child, he was fed through a tube in his stomach. After a small-intestine transplant when he was 6, Ashtons health improved. But when he was 11, he got sick again. For a year and a half, Ashton waited for a transplant that would give him new digestive organs: a stomach, a pancreas, a liver, a kidney, and a small intestine. He couldn’t go to school. Fed by tubes and carrying a backpack that handled waste, Ashton caught infections that sent him to the hospital for several days each month.  During that whole time, I didnt care about how I was going to get the organs. I just cared about when I was going to get them, he says. When Ashton was 13, the wait was over: His father got a phone call that the organs Ashton needed were available. Immediately, they drove to the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (CHP) for the operation that saved Ashtons life.

Subtopic 2B: Organ donation has proved to be a miracle for society. For example, a book titled Last Best Gifts: Altruism and the Market for Human Blood and Organs by Healy, Kieran Joseph. University of Chicago Press, 2006. Donors give of themselves for no reward so that the life of an individualoften anonymousmay be spared. This statement concludes that people who donate an organ do it for the best intentions in the world. Organs such as kidneys, heart, eyes, liver, small intestine, bone tissues, skin tissues, and veins are donated for transplantation. The donor gives a new life to the recipient by the way of this noble act. Organ donation is encouraged worldwide. The governments of different countries have put up different systems in place to encourage organ donation. However, the demand for organs is still quite high as compared to their supply. Effective steps must be taken to meet this ever-increasing demand.

Subtopic 3A: Organ transplantation is one of the great advances in modern medicine. Unfortunately, the need for organ donors is much greater than the number of people who donate. A website, Kalil, Thomas, et al. Reducing the Organ Waiting List: Key Actions and Opportunities for the Future. National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, 21 Dec. 2016, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/12/21/reducing-organ-waiting-list-key-actions-and-opportunities-future. More than 119,000 Americans are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. These findings show that approximately 6,300 people die, and each day 21 people die because they do not receive a transplant.

Subtopic 3B: Most of the people who are waiting for organ transplants have a good chance of being saved and getting what they need. But the sad truth is very tough, because of the lack of people willing to donate organs, many people will continue to wait for organs to save their lives. A book titled Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action. by Childress, James F., and Catharyn T. Liverman. National Academies Press, 2006. ‘Waiting lists of patients for organ transplants become longer as the need for transplantable organs increases. The sentence above demonstrates that the organ waiting list keeps growing and every day in the United States, people such as men, women, and children await life-saving organ transplants.

Subtopic 4A: Society should consider themselves potential organ donorsregardless of age, health, race, or ethnicity. Because becoming an organ donor is a relatively very simple process. A website titled Organ Donor: Organ Donor. Organ Donor | Organ Donor, https://www.organdonor.gov/. You can make a difference for the thousands of people waiting for lifesaving and life-enhancing transplants. The long quotation above demonstrates that organ donation is a very effective way of shortening the waiting list and giving someone the gift of life. Depending on where the person lives, there are different ways that they can register to become an organ donor. For example, in the state of California, people can register through the Donate Life California Registry when they apply for or renew, their driver’s license or ID card through the DMV. A pink DONOR dot is then placed on the card.

Subtopic 4B: Another way people can register to become a donor is by going online! Starting by visiting the Register to Become a Donor link on the website or by visiting www.donatelifecalifornia.org, its quick, easy, and convenient not to mention lifesaving, some information is required to register online is your: full name, date of birth, address, gender, and place of birth. Another requirement to register online is an email address to confirm the registration. People can request Donate Life California as a paper form to be sent to them and when they send back the papers, they can rest assured that their information will be in a secure and confidential database. When all registration to donate is done through Donate Life California, then organ donation takes place as an article titled The Stopwatch In The Operating Room. Scientific American 303.3 (2010): 52. Science Reference Center. Web. 18 Oct. 2012. The family of a patient who will not survive because of an irreparable brain injury decides to remove life support and to donate some or all of the patient’s organs.

References

    1. Downing, Kimberly A. ‘Organ Donation.’ Science and Politics: An A-to-Z Guide to Issues and Controversies, Brent S. Steele, CQ Press, 1st edition, 2014. Credo Reference, https://search.credoreference.com/content/topic/organ_donation?institutionId=5171. Accessed 12 Nov. 2019.
    2. Guerrieri, Jen. Face Transplants: The Changing Face of Medicine. Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, Cleveland Clinic Newsroom, 14 Aug. 2018, https://newsroom.clevelandclinic.org/2018/08/14/face-transplants-the-changing-face-of-medicine/.
    3. Webb, Sarah. ‘A Gift That Keeps On Giving.’ Current Health 2 35.8 (2009): 16. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.
    4. Healy, Kieran Joseph. Last Best Gifts: Altruism and the Market for Human Blood and Organs. University of Chicago Press, 2006. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=332601&site=ehost-live.
    5. Kalil, Thomas, et al. Reducing the Organ Waiting List: Key Actions and Opportunities for the Future. National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, 21 Dec. 2016, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/12/21/reducing-organ-waiting-list-key-actions-and-opportunities-future.
    6. Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action. by Childress, James F., and Catharyn T. Liverman. National Academies Press, 2006.
    7. The Stopwatch In The Operating Room. Scientific American 303.3 (2010): 52. Science Reference Center. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.
    8. Teresi, Dick.THE BEATING HEART DONORS. (Cover Story). Discover 33.4 (2012): 36. Science Reference Center. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.

 

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