Anencephalic Babies as Organ Donors
Should anencephalic newborns be used as organ donors? This has been a debatable topic within the medical field and anencephalic families. There has been many pros and cons whether it is right for anencephalic babies to donate their organs. With regards to using anencephalic newborns as organ donors, I believe that doctors should be able to use anencephalic babies organs to save another baby live.
First let’s discuss what anencephaly is. Anencephaly is a serious birth defect in which a baby is born without parts of the brain and skull. This birth defect happens during the first month of pregnancy and usually before a woman knows she is pregnant. Anencephaly happens if the upper part of the neural tube does
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This can be diagnosed during the pregnancy or after the baby is born. “Anencephaly would result in an abnormal result on a blood or serum screening test or it might be seen during an ultrasound.” This birth defect is more common in girls than boys. There is also no cure or standard treatment since most die shortly after birth. As a way to offer support to these families, many hospitals offer perinatal hospice care. A perinatal hospice approach helps these families through the process: pregnancy, birth, and death. ("Facts about …show more content…
Even if their baby is not able to live, they want to give another baby that opportunity. They want to give another family the opportunity to see their child grow. Sometimes the parents of an anencephalic infant want to donate the infant 's organs to other babies who need healthy organs. They say that, “by donating the newborn 's organs, they feel that the pregnancy would at least have had some value: their own loss can be another family 's gain.” In the United States, about 2000 babies each year need organs, and the only suitable organs for tiny babies are those from other tiny babies. However, there are also some parents who wish to keep their baby alive. ("3. ANENCEPHALIC BABIES
When viewing organ donation from a moral standpoint we come across many different views depending on the ethical theory. The controversy lies between what is the underlying value and what act is right or wrong. Deciding what is best for both parties and acting out of virtue and not selfishness is another debatable belief. Viewing Kant and Utilitarianism theories we can determine what they would have thought on organ donation. Although it seems judicious, there are professionals who seek the attention to be famous and the first to accomplish something. Although we are responsible for ourselves and our children, the motives of a professional can seem genuine when we are in desperate times which in fact are the opposite. When faced with a decision about our or our children’s life and well being we may be a little naïve. The decisions the patients who were essentially guinea pigs for the first transplants and organ donation saw no other options since they were dying anyways. Although these doctors saw this as an opportunity to be the first one to do this and be famous they also helped further our medical technology. The debate is if they did it with all good ethical reasoning. Of course they had to do it on someone and preying upon the sick and dying was their only choice. Therefore we are responsible for our own health but when it is compromised the decisions we make can also be compromised.
Neonatal Palliative Care should be considered for newborns with a debilitating or constraining condition, because the rate of survival for these extremely preterm and sick newborns are low. When palliative services need to be considered, parents and family members should be counseled and educated on the services, although making a choice of this magnitude to withdraw life sustaining measures will leave a void in the hearts of many. Potential is lost and dreams are torn apart which leaves parents and family members to lament the loss. Instead of endure the pain of the loss, the family wants to hold on to the infant, when the best thing to do will be to let go.
The question arises about the ethics of making organ donation mandatory. From religions to freedom to fear, there are many pros and cons between the legality of the situation, but it all boils down to the freedom citizens have been given, which makes mandatory organ donation unethical. Lately, this has been an increasingly debated topic worldwide, as many people question the ethics of making organ donation mandatory. Organ transplantation is a surgical procedure, where a failing or damaged organ is replaced with a new one, either from a living or deceased donor. Any part of the body that performs a specialized function is classified as an organ. People can become organ donors by listing it on their driver’s license or signing a document with
The selling of human organs for transplants is a highly debated topic in the healthcare industry today. The National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 prohibits compensating organ donors for their donations. Over 100,000 Americans have kidney or liver disease, and are in need of transplants to survive. The average waiting time for a kidney transplant, once on the list, is 4.5 years, while, liver disease is less common with a waiting time of 430 days. Nonetheless, the fact is that there are not enough organs donated annually to meet these high demands. By creating a regulated market for buying and selling human organs, it would increase the number of lives saved, help families with expenses, and greatly ease the anguish that many sick individuals endure while in hope of a transplant.
There has been a lot of debate concerning brain death within organ donations. This means whether the person is actually alive or dead when the doctors decide to harvest the organs. Some people and even organizations argue why it is they believe an individual is alive during the process while others argue why the donor isn’t alive. This essay shows the different positions of people and organizations regarding brain death.
Most people when you think of organ donation you think that it concess of someone giving up an organ or someone receiving one. There is a lot more behind this process then just someone donating or receiving an organ. A person has to take in consideration if the person wants to give up their organs, if their religion allows them, how to learn to cope with losing their loved one passing, and more. Organ donation could involve a community and details with a person 's culture beliefs. Organ Donation is one question everyone has been asked, depending on how we allow it to impact us and what we believe.
A neural tube is a tube that begins developing in an embryo that eventually become the spinal cord. A neural tube defect occurs at the beginning of pregnancy, often within the first month, when the neural tube does not close properly. This will cause, later on in development, a hole in the spinal cord. The most common type of this defect is called Spina Bifida. There are different types of Spina Bifida, some more mild than others. The most severe type of Spina Bifida, called Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele, causes many problems including partial or complete paralysis below the defected area of the spine, urinary and bowel issues, and excess fluid on the brain, which can cause learning or intellectual disabilities. The mildest type of Spina Bifida, Spina bifida occulta, does not cause any disabilities, but still presents an opening in the spinal cord (How do health care, 2012).
The process of finding if a patient is brain dead can be complex and long but is necessary to decide what will happen afterwards. There are many tests to define brain death in a patient and all of them are necessary even multiple times. If a person is successfully determined brain dead, the option of organ donation is an option that I would be in favor of because it could help make a good situation out of a bad one. Brain death can be a long and sad process for the family or friends of anyone who has been diagnosed definitively but finding the good in the situation, like organ donation, can help to conquer the feeling of losing someone.
a baby ranging from low birth weight and abnormalities to death. There are a few government
Stillbirth, also called intrauterine fetal demise, is the loss of a baby after 20 weeks of pregnancy and before or during delivery. A stillborn baby does not show any signs of life, such as a heartbeat or breathing. Usually, there is nothing that can be done to prevent stillbirth.
child will never wake back up from a coma or if they know that their baby is in so much pain,
Focusing on the development of a fetus, there is a lot to acknowledge. The reproduction system is detailed and pregnancy can be compromised easily. As a female who may eventually want to reproduce, the topic of pregnancy is generally interesting. There is a vast amount of information based on pregnancy and fetal development, however I would like to focus on birth defects. Birth defects can arise from several factors such as genetics, teratogens, and prenatal infections.
Organ Transplantation is a life-saving method that has become a normal part of daily conversation in the twenty first century. Most anyone you ask has known or known of someone who has qualified to be put on the transplant list in order to save their life, and many know someone who is successfully living and thriving with a donated organ. Often times these organs come from an anonymous donor that has met a fateful tragedy. But there are certain organs that can be donated from a living donor. While organ donation and transplantation has been proven to save lives as far back as the early 1800’s and many forward strides have been made over the past almost two centuries, it has not come without price tags, controversy
Today, more than 120,000 patients in America are on the waiting list to receive a vital organ that would save their lives. Another name is added every twelve minutes. Far under this number is the number of donors willing to sign a donor card and donate their organs after their death. Only around twenty eight thousand of these transplants are filled every year; the others are still waiting and most are not too fortunate. As the number of waiting lists patients goes up, many people find that signing the organ donation card will bring them no real cost and is a noble deed, but the need for organ donors in America is increasing daily and doctors know that, which, is often an issue. Organ donation is a dominating controversial topic, many think it should be required to donate organs after death in America, however, there are opposing arguments that present a real case against it.
...ething big with their lives and they might also donate money to save other prematurely born babies.