The Pros and Cons of Organ Donation

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Recommended: Ethical pros and cons of organ donations

Tayt Andersen is an 8 year old boy from Rigby, Idaho, but he isn’t like all the other little kids in Rigby. Tayt was born without the left side of his heart. And, at just seven years old, he has had nine open-heart surgeries, twenty-four shunt revision surgeries, and three other life-saving surgeries. He has been Life Flighted ten times, flat-lined six times, and has spent more than three-fourths of his life in hospital beds at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah. (Embree)

He has been denied a heart transplant three times, because his body wouldn’t be able to handle it. Along with Tayt there are about 121,605 other people who have been struggling for so long and are waiting for an organ transplant from an organ donor. Although many people need organs and think it is a good thing, there are also many people that are against organ donation.

Organ donation is the process of taking a whole organ or just part of an organ from one person, so it can be transplanted into another person. In order for somebody to be able to donate organs after death, they have to be brain dead.

Brain death can be caused by any injury that stops blood and oxygen from reaching the brain. Heart attacks can bring about brain death. So can strokes, which choke off the supply of blood to the brain. The brain can also die as a result of head injuries, blood clots and infections. (What causes brain death?)

Drowning or a brain tumor can also cause brain death. To be brain dead that means the brain is not functioning at all, and will not start functioning again. If somebody is brain dead then all of their organs can be donated, because they will still be getting blood until they are removed. If somebody dies from another cause that doesn’t cause...

... middle of paper ...

... that need a transplant to survive, like Tayt. Recently Tayt was cleared for a transplant, now all he needs is a heart from an organ donor.

Works Cited

Embree, Lori. “Tayt’s Wish.” facebook.com. 26 Nov. 2012. Web. 19 Mar. 2014.

Emory Transplant Center. “Donate Life Month-Pros & Cons of Organ Donation.” advancingyourhealth.org. 1 Apr. 2013. Web. 17 Mar. 2014.

“Fears or Why People Don’t Donate Their Body to Science.” medcure.org. Nd. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

“Learn the Facts.” organdonor.gov. Nd. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

“Organ and Tissue Donation.” secondchancelife.com. Nd. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

Paulson, Katie. “Top 5 Reasons You SHOULD Register to be an Organ and Tissue Donor.” donatelifenc.org. 21 May 2013.Web. 18 Mar. 2014.

“What Can Be Donated.” lifepoint-sc.org. Nd. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

“What causes brain death?” curiosity.discover.com. Nd. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

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