Organ Donation not being Accessible for all

Organ Donation: Not Accessible for All

"Don't think of organ donation as giving up part of yourself to keep a total stranger alive. It's really a total stranger giving up almost all of themselves to keep part of you alive" (~Author Unknown). Organ donation is the process of surgically removing an organ or tissue from one person (the organ donor) and placing it into another person (the recipient). This is necessary when the recipient's organ has failed or has been damaged by disease or injury (Cleveland Clinic).

Organ donation has been a significant advantage in modern medicine. But the number of organs needed outweighs the number of actual donors. Every day in the United States, 21 people die awaiting organ donations, and more than 120,048 men, women, and children await life-saving transplants. It's like, WOW – it should serve as a wakeup call to everyone that we need to make a difference. People need help, and all deserve a fair shot at life. Who can donate? People of all ages should consider themselves potential donors. Donors can either be alive (donating a portion of an organ) or deceased (donating a whole organ). Most donors are deceased, but in certain cases, live donors are acceptable.

Potential donors are screened based on their medical history and age. Whether a person is eligible or not, we should take that extra step and at least get evaluated to see if we're healthy enough to donate. Making that effort shows initiative. After all, what if it's your family member? Some people may see organ donation as no big deal, but with over 120,000 people awaiting donations, it's a huge matter. Knowing who can donate is one thing, but understanding how is another. There are several steps that need to be taken to show your willingness to donate. First, join a donor registry – the Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) always asks when issuing a license. If you agree to donate your organs, a heart symbol will appear on your ID, indicating that you are a potential organ donor. However, screening is necessary for official qualification.

Additionally, you should carry and sign an organ donation card. Informing family members and loved ones is also crucial. When death occurs, the hospital will offer this as an option to the family. If the patient had given prior consent, it allows families the comfort of making ethical decisions based on the patient's wishes. First, we screen potential donors then select ones who can donate. But we also need to determine what organs can be donated. As modern medicine evolves and allows for a greater range of donations, we can make better ethical decisions about these transplants. A deceased organ donor's organs can be comprised of kidneys (two), liver, lungs (two), heart, pancreas, and intestines. Live organ donors can donate one kidney, a lung, and a portion of the liver, pancreas, or intestine.

The donation of corneas works differently than most other organs. For corneas, the "recipients" don't have to match the donors. Age, eye color, and eyesight are irrelevant when it comes to cornea donation. Most people can donate as long as they are disease-free. For instance, donors need to be free of HIV and Hepatitis.
More than 95% of cornea transplants have been successful. Tissues can save or dramatically improve the quality of life. Heart valves can save children with heart defects and adults with damaged heart valves. Skin can save patients with serious burns and infections. Bone is used to help patients with total replacements, especially knee patients. This is a more enhanced way of improving the quality of life as opposed to using artificial parts in the body. The risk with artificial parts is that the body can reject them. Replacing tendons can help repair damaged joints, leading to a decrease in arthritis. Arthritis, a common condition characterized by inflammation of one or more joints anywhere in the body, can last for a few years to a lifetime depending on factors like age and medical history. Treatment can help, but there's no actual cure.

Most people can donate tissue, but it must be harvested within 24 hours of death. However, it can be stored for a significant amount of time. Over 30,000 tissue donors have made a difference. Hands and face transplants have recently been added to the transplant list. This is a complex procedure called vascularized composite allograft (VCA), which involves transplanting bone, muscle, nerves, skin, and blood vessels. All these components must be transplanted together to ensure the procedure's success.

As of January 2018, fewer than 200 of these surgeries have been performed worldwide. Despite their complexity, they are transforming lives and will continue to do so. As a relatively new addition to the transplant list, their demand is expected to rise as people continue to witness their positive impact.

There are no costs associated with organ donations. They are free to donate and receive, but the need for them continues to increase dramatically. The only cost involved is the funeral expense for the deceased donor. The quality of life does not have a price tag; everyone deserves to live well. Organ donors make a tremendous impact, and recipients are deeply grateful, even if they may never know who donated the specific organ unless it was a family member.

So, should you require organ donation, what are you expected to do? Get on the national waiting list! Patients must visit a transplant hospital and apply through the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). Every transplant hospital is a UNOS member. Transplant doctors will evaluate whether you are a suitable candidate based on the specific organ or tissue needed, and the quantity required. If it is determined that you are a good candidate, you will be placed on a national waiting list. Unfortunately, there is no way to accurately predict the waiting time.

When an organ becomes available, all patients on the list are assessed based on who the organ matches best considering factors like blood type, organ size, and urgency of need. Doctors must ensure the patient's body will accept the transplant. This consideration is crucial in organ donation because if the body rejects the organ, the transplant would have been in vain.

Take, for example, a 25-year-old patient named JD who sustained a massive head trauma and neurological injury in a motorcycle accident.
He's not brain dead, but he will remain in a vegetative state on life support. Being in a vegetative state is a chronic state of brain dysfunction in which a person shows no signs of awareness. The prognosis for a "meaningful recovery" for JD is less than 1%. Regarding his parents' religious aspects, they have decided to "pull the plug", which is the act of taking a patient off all lifesaving equipment and letting them pass peacefully. They are allowing whatever happens to happen and to release JD into God's hands. As paperwork and everything began to be gathered, hospital officials came across a heart and organ donation stamp on JD's license. This was a representation of first-person consent, and this is what he wanted, but his parents weren't aware.

They were so against the idea. JD was to get tested for possible organ donation, but there was no convincing them. The case was left here; there was no response to this issue. My response would be that the grieving process is hard and I couldn't imagine the pain and the thought of "taking the organs out of my son's body", but I also need to respect his wishes. If he has the heart and desire to help others, then we need to respect that. We can't be selfish; he is our son and will always have that special place in our heart.

To conclude, ethically there are a lot of issues that arise when the topic of organ donation comes about. There are so many people out there today that need these organ transplants, but there is not enough for everyone. Thus, these poor people's lives are taken because they cannot function without these necessary organs. It's truly sad, but as an ethical standard, more awareness needs to be made to show the importance of organ donation. You're not just donating an organ to a stranger; you're saving a stranger's life. Everyone, no matter their gender, race, or religious aspects, they all deserve a chance at life.

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