Organ Donation: An Ethical Dilemmas On Organ Transplantation

Asakaze Nishimura

TOK Period 8

Mr. Lamb

May 17, 2016

Extended Essay

2008 words

The shortage of organ donors and the rapidly increasing demand for organ transplantation has been causing many dilemmas in our society. Organ transplantation can save many people’s life if it is done accurately on time but the problem in many cases is that people get rejected. By the time the patient has received its donor submission, in most situations it is too late to do the organ transplantation. But even if you get a chance to get an organ transplant on time, there is what is known as transplant rejection. Transplant rejection occurs when the transplant recipient’s immune system rejects and attacks the transplanted organs. Organ transplant is an operation

People who don’t necessary need an organ transplant might get one and patients who are starving to get organ transplant might not get a chance to get one. Millions of people across the world lose their life while waiting for their turn to get a organ transplant. The United Network for Organ Sharing, also known as UNOS, provides an up-to-date data of the number of people awaiting organ transplantation. According to UNOS more than 83,000 people are waiting for the organ donor in the United States. But in 2003 only 19,000 organ transplants were implemented which means more than 64,000 have to wait more than a year to get transplanted. Not all patients can wait more than a year to get an organ transplant, and about 6200 people die each year waiting for their turn to come. In other words on average, 17 patients die each day waiting for an organ transplant. Every year on average, 38,700 people are being added to the United States’ organ transplant waiting list. Comparing this to the number of people receiving transplant every year, which is on average 24,800 patients, it would explain why many people die while waiting for their donor. The amount of donated organs has stayed rather constant over this few years but the number of patients needing organ transplant has been increasing significantly each year. This is due to the advancement in medical technology

A person with damaged organ due to unhealthy life style may look for a living donor to donate their organ because it allows them to bypass the long waiting time. Human organ such as kidney can be donated while the donor is alive furthermore there are both negative and positive sides to this idea. According to the UNOS website, the patient can start taking anti-rejection drugs in advance to avoid transplant rejection and often find a better match donor because most of the living donors are genetically related to the patient. Drawback to donating your organ while alive may include health consequences such as infection, pain, bleeding, and discomfort. And in many cases, people get pressured to donate their organs to its family member or loved one. Living organ donor can put their life in risk order to save someone else’s life and they should know all these negative consequences that may follow. Transplant recipient Peter Platt who had received kidney from his sibling at New York Presbyterian Hospital, was re-hospitalized within a week of surgery due to severe infections that caused him transplant rejection. His wife, Shirin Platt, who had contacted the federal health official about this incident, stated, "The kidney transplant was supposed to be the gift of life, but it ended up taking it away… At the very least, we need to make sure that