Organ Donors: Education, Morality And Different Aspects

Education On Organ Donations

Has anyone ever wondered how many organ donations occur every year? (Matching Donors and Recipients, 2018) The American Transplant Foundation is a nonprofit program that educates people on emotional and financial support to living donor families and friends. According to the American Transplant Foundation 6,000 living donations occur every year and they are starting to evolve more. This foundation has a lot of support in their corner and more are joining by the years or even months. Many of these supporters put their whole life into this organization, they participate in bike rides and many races. The funds that are collected from these different types of fundamental activities are going straight to the American Transplant Foundation and are used to help families in this time of need.

Recipient families are notified when an organ donor has passed away or a donor is available. While conducting this research I have found out that one in every four donors is total strangers and the majority of them are healthy and full of life. Some of the recipients would like to meet the families of the donor and let them know that they will always be there for them and to make the legacy of the passed donor life live.

Many people survive organ donations and heal accordingly to what procedure they have just gone through. The survival rate of organ donations is fifty percent compared to twenty-five percent that are still on the waiting list. Heart transplants are one of the major transplant there are. About eighty-five percent to ninety percent of heart transplant patients live one year after the procedure, and approximately about four percent thereafter. Three year survival is approximately seventy-five percent. Heart transplant tends to hit more emotional and physical with the average recipient and their family. While waiting in the waiting room is very traumatized and can cause the family’s to panic. The hospital staff is always going to be there to tend to the families every needs. The hospitals are a great emotional support for the everyone is its very amazing.

Different options for organ donations

I know you are probably wondering how many different options there are on organ donations. Also what you can and cannot donate, which one is the most delicate and which one is the most common. The most common organ donated by a living donor is the kidneys, But surprisingly the US throws away 3,500 kidneys a year! The most common one, but yet we manage to throw away 3,500 a year! Around 5,000 people die waiting for a kidney transplant, and another 5,000 gets taken off the list because their health doesn’t allow them to be eligible for a transplant. One thing that you cannot donate is the spinal cord. The spinal cord is one of the major body parts in the entire human body! The scientist is researching more information to end up doing a total human head transplant.

Working in the healthcare field you see many different blood types and many different health issues. All these are factors in picking and choosing on who gets which organ in organ transplants. If someone were to smoke even half or their entire life they would not be able to be on the donor list as of someone who was healthy their whole life. When a person registers to be an organ donor they have to go through many health evaluations to see if they are eligible to participate. Patients have to undergo physical, mental and physiological health evaluations in order to even be a candidate. They are required to have blood tests done to see if they have any infections or any abnormal levels in their blood. Female donors and male donors have a lot of similarities and many differences. Females have a higher risk of not being able to take a males kidney because of different hormones and it ranges in sizes. Also as a female that is receiving a male heart it will most likely have difficulties and it will reject it. The scientist is looking into why females and males cannot take the same organ in the body not matter what the size or organ it is.

Time and Money Spent on Procedures

I have found out that many of these transplants are very cost effective. A lot of people don’t have that kind of money to even afford a quarter of the cost of any transplant. Transplants are a scary and unique type of procedures and they are very risky. Time management of any of these risky procedures can last many hours because they don’t want to make any errors. Doctors need to take their time and make sure the surgery goes as plan and that the donor is well taken care of. While in the operating room before the procedure occurs the doctors make sure the donor organ is healthy and the person who is receiving the organ. I feel like these are high risk procedures and I would be really scared to be the doctors.

Money is always the leading cause of not being able to get what you want. There is a different way that can cover any medical procedure. Insurance is the main way that will cover all the expensive surgery’s that people run into. While insurance is very cost effective, insurance is the key to any hospital visit and doctor visit. Insurance will cover all transplants when they are necessary. Kidney, heart and lungs are the most common transplants that there is. You can live without a kidney and a lung. Lungs are a necessity in the human body and we use them to help us breathe. Without any of these organs our everyday lives will be a little bit of a struggle to bare.

Many of these procedures are life changing and the recipients are so happy to get a new organ so they can live their life to the fullest. While many of these surgeries are not successful the first time around, the recipients will have to wait until another match is on hand in order to correct the issue that occurred. If the surgery goes well then the recipient will have to be on medicine for the rest of their time here on earth.

Is this Ethical?

Have you ever thought of organ donations being ethical or unethical?

Well, this is an opinion question so there is no right or wrong answer. Unlike over the counter drugs, organ transplants would need to be advised by a doctor. Among the various types of organ transplants the issue would need to be identified by a doctor, and considering the issues, whatever organ you need would then be told to you only by them. The normative principle of the medical profession is “ Do no harm.” Speaking ethically, if the donor chooses to undergo the harm of having their organs surgically removed solely to help an individual, the situation is deemed morally defensible; considering it ethical in my opinion.

Majority of organ transplants are done by willing donations, or received by qualified deceased. Living donors can only donate part of the pancreas, part of the lungs, part of the intestines, part of the liver, or a kidney. Any other donations are received after the donor is already deceased. The most common organ transplant is the kidney.

The wait time for an organ transplant varies by organ, blood type, age, and other circumstances. It could take approximately 7-10 years for a candidate to receive a deceased kidney. Once an organ is received, it could take up to 3 hours for the surgery to take place.

Donations of the heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, and small intestines can only be received if the donor dies in a hospital. This is because the donor needs to be put on artificial respiration to keep the heart beating, so oxygen-rich blood will continue to circulate throughout their body. Regardless of where the death occurred, most people can still make donations. These donations include veins, heart valves, skin, tendons, corneas, bones, and ligaments.

Donation costs are usually paid by the recipients of the organs. Donors do not get paid, and their families are responsible for the funeral and hospital costs.

Is it Unethical?

While conducting my research about organ donations, I have found out that Organ donations have both ethical and unethical statistics. Many people tend to just see the ethical side of this, the unethical side may or may not always be right, but it is in fact just as important as the ethical side. Unethical means that people can see if something is unreasonable or it is in the wrong way of doing something.

In the health care field you will run into many different situations where you have to handle a harsh task that are thrown at you. Some of these tasks will include having to distinguish whether or not a medical case is ethical or unethical. As an RMA it is my duty to comfort these patients at any and every challenge that we both encounter. Yes, it will be a tough path to go down, but it’s all in favor of the patient and their family’s well-being.

When you think of organ donations do you think they are right or wrong? I personally do think it is ethical, my reasoning is because I would want to save somebody’s life after I pass away and let a part of me live on. I might not be a match for everyone, but at least I’ll be able to say I was an organ donor. Being a match is a very special moment in a recipient’s life. Even if you are listed as an organ donor that is not a guarantee that you will be able to donate your organs. For example, if you were to pass away outside of the hospital and you are an organ donor, you will not be able to donate your organs because they will lose blood flow and the organs will die off.

There have been may case of where people are organ donors, but they couldn’t donate them because of the way they died. While conducting my research I have learned more about organ donations and all the challenges the donors and recipients encounter. The many surgery’s that are offered have different levels of intensity. All procedures are not successful but the doctors and their teams do everything in their power to make sure everything goes correct. Before any of these producers are performed the doctors have to make sure everything is in order and the recipient and their families knows the risk of this procedure.