Sarah Murnaghan Lung Transplant Controversy

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Recommended: Arguments in favour of organ donation

A ten year old girl, Sarah Murnaghan, has come across an issue that not many ten year olds will or should ever face. Sarah has cystic fibrosis, and her lungs have been destroyed due to the inherited chronic disease. The issue is whether Sarah should be able to receive an organ from just a child donor? Or adult donors, too. It is interesting to see which side a person would take when a child is involved. As a member of Delta Phi Epsilon, our philanthropy is cystic fibrosis and I know of many people and have heard many stories revolving this terrible disease. If Sarah was just five years older, would more people find it acceptable to receive an organ from an adult? Would a persons view change if they had children? Better yet, would their view change if they knew of someone with cystic fibrosis? These are the questions that I hope to answer within this paper. Cystic fibrosis is a disease that affects 70,000 people worldwide. A person diagnosed with CF will begin to have a build up of mucus in their lungs which at some point will require the patient to receive a transplant. Whether big, or small, each individual affected with the disease should be given the equal opportunity to receive a new organ. As mentioned in the Seattle children’s website, there is only one donor list, and there should always remain to be one donor list. A patient should not be separated from the donor list due to age because that would create discrimination. A child wants to live for the same reasons that an adult would want to. No one should take that opportunity away from a child for a new organ. http://www.seattlechildrens.org/about/stories/a-closer-look-transplant-with-dr-patrick-healey/ In the situation with Sarah Murnaghan, her parents had taken the... ... middle of paper ... ...m would disagree with Dr. John Roberts because if exceptions were made to everybody, then everyone would receive happiness. However, this is not a perfect world and not everyone can receive a lung transplant. So, there will be a minority of people who do not get to receive happiness. Benthem does not take the minority into account. Therefore, not everyone will be granted happiness. Another philosopher to discuss is John Mills, who believed justice is the most sacred part and most binding part of all morality. Works Cited http://news.stanford.edu/news/2001/january17/kidney-117.html http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/808643 http://www.cff.org/aboutcf/ http://www.seattlechildrens.org/about/stories/a-closer-look-transplant-with-dr-patrick-healey/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/children-added-to-adult-lung-transplant-list-amid-outcry-a-dilemma-for-doctors/

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