Should Congress Legalize Organ Donation?

Superior Essays
Currently in America, thousands of people are on a waiting list hoping for an organ to become available before it is too late. Unfortunately, there is not enough supply to meet the demand and no real solution has been implemented in years. The only people who truly learn about the need of organ donors are those who are directly affected by the problem, but there are bigger issues around the need. The fact is that there are not enough organs available to meet the demand. One solution that has been proposed is allowing people to be able to sell their own organs in order to meet the need that is out there now. There are not enough organs to meet the demand which is causing more people to die than it should; therefore, congress should pass a law …show more content…
This again points to the need of reaching out to the public on organ donation and how big of an issue it is becoming. People should have more of a say in where their organs or tissue go and if many knew that their donation could help others as well as benefit themselves, more people would come forward to donate. There are many who get reimbursed for donating their eggs, hair, or plasma, why cut off the incentives there (Park, 2012)? There have been many proposals already by doctors and patients recommending congress reform the laws already in place, yet they have not budged (Fry-Revere, …show more content…
The NOTA bill is thirty years old and since then the number of people who need an organ has only increased. With illnesses like diabetes also on the rise, the number one organ that is needed in these cases is the kidney since forty-four percent of those with diabetes have kidney failure (Statistics about diabetes, 2014). The justification of being able to sell organs is to give those who freely want to donate an opportunity to cover the costs of all that come with donation process. Giving more control to the person willing to donate would increase awareness and make those who are on the fence about donating recognize that with science today, they can be reassured of the safety of these procedures.
The benefit of congress getting involved would be creating more awareness on the topic of organ donation. Even though many people can be torn on political issues or having the government get involved, the truth is that they need to be involved since they have already passed a bill on organ sales. If enough people come together and create awareness on this issue, it could get the attention of the media as well as the families involved to provide a face for this problem. Stories of those who have gone through an organ donation situation of a family member needing an organ would be ideal voices for the

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