Persuasive Essay: Saving Lives One Donor At A Time

Saving Lives, One Donor At A Time

Imagine you 're on your way home from a long day on a Friday afternoon. You come to a stop and receive a phone call from your brother. He says that while at the doctor today, he was told that he needed a kidney transplant. After doing some research you find out “the lowest average cost for a transplant and related services, based on billed charges for the first year alone, was $262,900 for a kidney in 2011” (Number of organ-transplant candidates registered). This overwhelming scenario is not out of the blue in relation to organ transplants in the United States, as “kidneys are the top hit on the waiting lists [of people in need of an organ transplant], at 80.9 percent” (United Network for Organ Sharing). This

For example, congress passed a law in the late nineties that 's says anyone who is a donor will receive tax refunds. This is still the case in seventeen states and is pending seventeen other states (Number of organ-transplant candidates registered). This certified that if you become an organ donor you will receive money off of your taxes, meaning you would pay less. In relation, April was designated as donate a life month in 2003 (Number of organ-transplant candidates registered). While these two examples are government produced, an example that is mostly influenced at the time of accidents and ran by hospitals is when specialized doctors talk to a family about donation of a loved-one 's organs. Even if the patient is a registered organ donor, “at the time of death, a surviving family member must also consent to the donation,” it is because of this law that “an estimated one-third of potential donors are lost because family members refuse to sign the organ donation consent form” (Organ Donations Increase When Families Have Good Information About the Donation Process). It is federal law that once a person in critical condition is a candidate for organ donation, even if they made it perfectly clear that they want to be a donor, someone in their family that is still living must sign a consent form saying that they are able to give their organs. While all these

One way to convince more people to donate after death is to ask them. While comparing states, New York and Colorado, the difference in organ donors has a very high difference. In this study, it is reported that sixty-four percent of people in Colorado are organ donors while in New York only eleven percent are. So what causes this change between states? It’s simple really, “In Colorado, DMV workers are required to ask ID and license applicants are if they want to register as donors. In New York, the question is one of many on a written form” (A System of Presumed Consent Is Not a Good Way to Increase Available Organs). The strategy behind this is smart because it makes the applicant really think about the decision they are making instead of marking no absentmindedly. This makes such a big difference in the amount of people who choose to be donors. This requirement should be implemented in all states because the difference is so significant. But this is also only one of many changes that should be made. In addition, a change that should be made has sparked a lot of debate in America, “convicted felons can receive transplants, increasing the possibility that a person further down the waiting list will die in place of a criminal” (Number of organ-transplant candidates registered). Criminals should not be able to receive an organ transplant until every other person that is not in prison that is a match to an available organ gets the