Official individuals partake in organ trafficking which shows that organ trafficking is a valid issue that must be handled. As of now, U.S. citizens are not prohibited to buy organs outside of the United States by NOTA (National Organ Transplant Act of 1984). In “Can The Government Ban Organ Sale? Recent Court Challenges And The Future Of US Law On Selling Human Organs And Other Tissue”, Glenn I. Cohen states that “. . . if a US citizen travels abroad to buy a kidney or other organ his act is not prohibited by NOTA and it is generally accepted that more general US laws prohibiting trafficking do not apply to organ sale” (Cohen 1984). Buying organs outside of the United States transplant system is not yet illegal, but it is highly frowned upon. The moral issue with organ donations is prevalent in today’s society. The Pope had declared that organ donation is an act of value. “Organ donation is seen as a gift of love and fits within a communication ethos that most religions embrace” (Tonti- Filippini 410). In most religions, organ donation is regarded as honorable to the human race. Organ donation should be embraced in the same way that organ trafficking needs to be kept under control because it is immoral. Organ shortages cause a more prevalent organ trafficking black market today. “The underground organ trade constitutes ten percent of worldwide organ transplants, producing between $600 million and $1.2 billion in illicit revenue each year” (Kelly 1319). Organ shortages drive people to participate in the black market for organ transplants, and there is a ton of money as a result of this issue. In the United States and throughout the world, there is an abundant shortage of organs and a high need for organ donors. Organ shortages cau... ... middle of paper ... ...e Journal. 39.6 (2012): 852-853. Health Source: Nursing/ Academic Edition. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. Nazarko, Linda . “When I’m Dead And Gone: Organ Donation And The Community Nurse.” British Journal Of Community Nurse. 18.6 (Jun 2013): 283. Health Source: Nursing/ Academic Edition. Web. 28 Mar. 2014. Reid, T.R. The Healing Of America. New York: The Penguin Press, 2009. Print. Reidler, Jay S. et. al. “Recent Developments in Health Law.” Journal of Law, Medicine, & Ethics. 40.2 (2012): 409-427. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Mar. 2014 Relman, Arnold S. A Second Opinion. New York: Public Affairs, 2007. Print. Tonti- Flippini, Nicholas. “Religious And Secular Death: A Parting Of The Ways.” Bioethics. 26.8 (Oct 2012): 410-421. Health Source: Nursing/ Academic Edition. Web. 22 Mar. 2014. Wolff, Jonathan. The Human Right To Health. New York: W.W. Norton& Company, 2012. Print.
First of all, we can assess issues concerning the donor. For example, is it ever ethically acceptable to weaken one person’s body to benefit another? It has to be said that the practiced procedures are not conducted in the safest of ways, which can lead to complications for both donors and recipients (Delmonico 1416). There are also questions concerning of informed consent: involved donors are not always properly informed about the procedure and are certainly not always competent to the point of fully grasping the situation (Greenberg 240). Moral dilemmas arise for the organ recipient as well. For instance, how is it morally justifiable to seek and purchase organs in foreign countries? Is it morally acceptable to put oneself in a dangerous situation in order to receive a new organ? Some serious safety issues are neglected in such transactions since the procedures sometimes take place in unregulated clinics (Shimazono 959). There is also the concept of right to health involved in this case (Loriggio). Does someone’s right to health have more value than someone else’s? Does having more money than someone else put your rights above theirs? All of these questions have critical consequences when put into the context of transplant tourism and the foreign organ trade. The answers to these questions are all taken into account when answering if it is morally justifiable to purchase
Howards, Lawrence A. “Ethics of Organ Donation.” JSOnline Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 20 June 1999. p4. 30 November 2003. http://www.jsonline.com/alive/column/jun99/howard62099.asp>
Why are organ sales illegal? Donors of blood, semen, and eggs are often compensated. Why not apply the same guide lines to organs? Joanna Mackay(2013) explains in her article Organ Sales Will Save Lives, “About 350,000 Americans suffer from end-stage renal disease.”(p. 120) At this stage of renal disease, the kidneys are no longer able to remove enough wastes and excess fluids from the body. Therefore, you would need dialysis or a kidney transplant.
Nevertheless, willing donations are scarce, recently DMV’s have incorporated the option of choosing whether to donate or not donate when obtaining a permit or license. Bringing attention towards this question is fundamental to obtain more registered donors because some people lack the knowledge of how to become donor. Hence, once a person has died without registering to be a donor there is not much that could be done unless a family member accountable for the person agrees on doing so. Not every donor qualifies to donate, depending on the gravitude of the incident in which their death
“Many people in our village have sold their kidneys if you are hungry, what do you do? You do whatever it takes to fulfill your hunger and that’s what I did.” Many people just like this young individual have volunteered to sell their organs for quick cash. To provide for their family, to send their children off to college, or to even put food on the table. For whatever the reason may be, there are still causes and the effects of selling one’s organ through the black market that one needs to be made aware of, for example, by selling one’s organ through the black market doesn’t ensure that one will be provided with the best medical care and attention that one will need prior to surgery,
The issue brought before us today is whether the commercialization of organ transplants is both ethical and beneficial to the economy and populace as a whole. There are many issues which are centered on this decision on which I hope to shed some light and allow for better resolutions to be made. In nearly every country in the world, there is a shortage of kidneys for transplantation. According to Corydon Ireland, in the United States 73,000 people are on waiting lists to receive a kidney. About 4,000 can pass away every year before receive a lifesaving organ. (Corydon Ireland, Harvard News Office. February 14, 2008) Some of the benefits of organ commercialization are increased revenues and jobs, as it would open a whole new arena of business, more widely available organs to those in need, and a wider method by which under-performing citizens can create temporary cash flow. There are many arguments against the allowance of organ commercialization, they include the fact that many consider it unethical to sell body parts, concern over the safety of these procedures, and doubt as to how those who donate will be treated medically post-sale. The final, separate issue which would need to be addressed is how health insurance companies are to handle those who sell organs and any post-op health issues that relate to the sale.
The human body, and the organs being prepped for donation are often objectified, making them a “contested terrain” of sorts. This objectification silences the donor and the donors family, making the donor recipient, and the organ transplant surgeons the stars of the show (Sharp, 2001). In the United States, the human body, and organs being donated are often viewed as goods, or objects, being bought and sold for medical purposes. Almost all parts of the human body can be viewed in this manner. Genetic materials associated with reproduction such as placenta, sperm, and ova can be sold as well (Sharp, 2001). Organ transplant lists are very extensive, with a long list of requirements that must be met by the donor recipient before they can even be put on this list. Because some people can be on this list for many years, there is a strong desire, or desperation, for a life saving organ, that individuals will go through the black market to get
Organ donation is a key role in saving thousands of American lives. Without donation hundreds of people would die from improperly functioning or failing organs not strong enough to keep them alive. Organ donation is the process of giving an organ or a part of an organ for the purpose of transplantation into another person. Organs can be donated from both living and deceased donors, and can be donated from all ages. Unfortunately not all Americans are aware of organ donation and out of the ones that are, several are uncomfortable with donating for several reasons. This is causing organ shortages not just in the US, but all over the world. These shortages have led to the voluntary selling of one’s own organs, otherwise known as Organ Trafficking.
Major Points: Organ donation myths, Recipient Selection, Legislation and Policy, Current Trend, Let’s Pay Organ Donors.
Since the 1970s, organ transplants have been in trouble with over 10 Americans dying daily while waiting on the transplant list (Fentiman, 1998). Organ donation can bring about extensive ethical matters, but humans can choose and should choose to donate organs and tissues. Organs from living donors are lung, liver, intestine, pancreas, heart, and kidney (Cook, 2006). Postmortem, the entire body can be donated and used to save the life of another. In either case, the ability and/or right to donate human organs in the United States is a moral responsibility as humans because it saves lives, decreases the chance of organ sales on the black market, and aids in furthering scientific research.
But it exists today: an illegal market in human organs, black markets. Selling a body part seems unethical, but a closer look, reveals no bright line in the laws of most countries. It is legal for men to sell their sperm, for women to sell their limited number of reproductive eggs or use their wombs as surrogate mothers, people who selling their hairs and blood. And it is not understandable and clear why the same standards should not be applied to organs donation such as kidney, part of liver. These organs donation are not riskier than other plain medical surgeries or operations. Research and experience in medicine shows that with one kidney and part of the liver which grow back fast person can live normal healthy life. Many people who might be persuaded that organ donation is safe have another problem: the burden of organ donation fall on those who are already financially disadvantage. Suffering of the poor people would be increased by a market for a human organ is not a trivial one. American law attempts to protect poor people by prohibiting for selling organs. The problem is these attempts hurt poor, donors, human lives. The results of not enough organ donors in United States, combined with the legal sale of organs, there is a black market also. Every year a thousands of people from wealthy countries, including US, travel to poorer, less legally serious countries to buy kidneys
One of the utmost common myths about organ donation is that most individuals believe if they become registered donors, physicians will easily not try their best in saving their precious life and declare them dead early for the intent of obtaining one’s organs (Hyde, Wihardjo, & White, 2012). Generally, myths like this one that withheld most individuals to become donors themselves and as a result people in need of organ is taking a toll in meeting their demand. Another, dilemma is the majority of people don’t make proper arrangements on what to do with their organs once they expire (Forbes, 2007). In general, people forget to make the necessary arrangements once they passed away, and as a result, there is less donors to contribute their much needed organs. It is essential for the community to spread great awareness to address individuals with concerns that they may still have about organ donation. The effect of awareness addresses the public concerns which lead to an increasing number of organ donations that are desperately needed in the community. Even with the awareness individuals might still be reluctant, but being an organ donor is more than just donating organs, individuals can start with donating blood and tissue. Most people feel comfortable in this area, but studies have shown that individuals who donate blood and tissue are likely
Studies have been done to provide an insight into how nurses feel about the organ donation process and what they believe their role is as a practicing nurse in organ donation situations. When it comes to most practicing nurses around the world, a vast majority of them are unaware of their role in the organ donation process and how they would even start the process if they were put in the situation that requires them to do so (Jelinek, Marck, Weiland, Neate, & Hickey, 2012). These studies also help identify potential solutions, such as more nursing education and understanding families’ experiences with agreeing to organ donation, that can help nurses become more comfortable in identifying potential organs donors and going forward with the process to help decrease the gap between the number of needed organs and the number of av...
One of the most important and prevalent issues in healthcare discussed nowadays is the concern of the organ donation shortage. As the topic of organ donation shortages continues to be a growing problem, the government and many hospitals are also increasingly trying to find ways to improve the number of organ donations. In the United States alone, at least 6000 patients die each year while on waiting lists for new organs (Petersen & Lippert-Rasmussen, 2011). Although thousands of transplant candidates die from end-stage diseases of vital organs while waiting for a suitable organ, only a fraction of eligible organ donors actually donate. Hence, the stark discrepancy in transplantable organ supply and demand is one of the reasons that exacerbate this organ donation shortage (Parker, Winslade, & Paine, 2002). In the past, many people sought the supply of transplantable organs from cadaver donors. However, when many ethical issues arose about how to determine whether someone is truly dead by either cardiopulmonary or neurological conditions (Tong, 2007), many healthcare professionals and transplant candidates switched their focus on obtaining transplantable organs from living donors instead. As a result, in 2001, the number of living donors surpassed the number of cadaver donors for the first time (Tong, 2007).
People consider trafficking to be only in the form of sex, but trafficking actually has many different categories. Human trafficking is defined as people who sell or trade their bodies, or other people’s bodies for different purposes like, forced labor, sex, forced marriage, and even organs. Trafficking of any kind is considered a crime in the United States and every other country in the world except Iran because it is a violation of human rights. Although trafficking is illegal, it still takes place all over the world and statistics say that trafficking brings in approximately 32 billion dollars of international trade per year. Out of all the different forms of trafficking, organ trafficking is the most dangerous. The compensation of organ donors was legal until 1984 when the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 was put into place. Many people turn to buying organs because there is a shortage of organs and some patients may be on the organ transplant list for years. Because there is such a shortage of available organs for transplantation, many people turn to buying or selling organs on the black market illegally. If trafficking was legalized with regulations, there would rarely be a need to use the black market. Even though the 32 billion dollars that the black market makes each year would rapidly diminish, the money would be spent in other places, and legally. Many people argue that a human life should be invaluable but by legalizing the trafficking of organs, the list for organ transplants would slowly disappear. If the sale of organs was legal with heavy regulations, many more organs would be donated; therefore, many more lives would be saved all over the world.