Organ Donation Analysis

Thousands of Americans are in desperate need of organs. Ahmad and Iftikar’s article “An Analysis of Organ Donation Policy in The United States”, states that “On average, 22 patients die each day while waiting for a transplant that cannot take place because there is a shortage of donated organs” (Ahmad and Iftikhar par. 1). Organ donation involves transplanting healthy organs and tissue from a donor to someone that is in need of them. Organ donation systems vary around the world, but the United States currently uses the opt-in system. Since this requires people to actively sign up to be an organ donor, most Americans aren’t donors. Switching to the opt-out system would mean that organ donation would occur automatically unless a specific …show more content…
Bagheri and Delmonico’s article “Organ Shortage: The Greatest Challenge Facing Transplant Medicine” says that “Patients have had to travel beyond geographical borders to receive transplants because of donor shortages at home” (Bagheri and Delmonico par. 2). Rich people will often wind up traveling to poorer countries to purchase organs because they know the people there will be desperate for any money and will sell them their organs. “It has been estimated that organ trafficking accounts for 5–10 % of the kidney transplants performed annually throughout the world” (par. 3). That number doesn’t even take into account liver or any other transplants that are happening. As crazy as it sounds, organs are even popping up for sale online on sites such as e-bay. (Bagheri and Delmonico par. 5). A problem arises not only because poor, vulnerable people will be giving up organs to provide for their families, but because the people receiving these organs are putting their health at risk. “It is hard to guarantee proper transplantation care for a recipient who gets an organ through sources, which are not safe in many cases, no matter how much the procedure costs.” (Bagheri and Delmonico par. 6). Organ trafficking is an unethical practice that needs to be stopped immediately by switching to an opt-out system which will close the gap between the amount of organs donated and the amount of organs …show more content…
The opt-in system is not saving enough lives and is letting valuable organs go to waste because some people who wish to donate are too lazy to go register. It is also creating a widening gap between organ supply and demand which has opened the door for the illegal buying and selling of organs (Bagheti and Delmonico par. 1). The opt-out system is saving more lives worldwide, making it the best system to establish in the United States regarding organ donation. Right now people are waiting to be helped. The longer the opt-out policy is not in effect, the longer people will be stuck on what seems to them like a never ending waiting