End Organ Donation for Organ Sales

Caleb Anderson

ENG-106

April 4th, 2018

Sandi Van Lieu

End Organ Donation for Organ Sales

        On December 23rd, 1954, Dr. Joseph Murray and Dr. David Hume made first successful organ donation transplant which was a living-related transplant of a kidney. After the the first successful organ donation transplant, people began to sign up to be organ donors to help others in need. The ratio to a person needed a donor against a person that wanted to donate an organ was much smaller than it is today. This means that organ donation is not popular like it was and less people sign up to donate. As the years go on, the amount of people that are waiting for an organ donation is becoming much greater and that means that the demand is becoming greater while supply is becoming smaller. This is an issue because many people are becoming sick and are dying waiting for this organ donation they desperately need. The best option that would help those in need would be changing the system of organ transplantation from organ donation to organ sales. Changing the system would mean that the list of people desperate for donors would be minimized, both parties are benefited, and families and friends can be assured to have a higher chance of their loved ones being saved.

        Today, the U.S. has the organ transplant system as organ donation rather than the system in which the organs are being legally sold. As of August of 2017, there over 116,000 people that were on the list waiting for the organ donation that is much needed (“Organ Donor,” 2018).  Changing the system would mean that the list of people waiting for the generous gift of a life being extended would be much smaller. This means that the issue of great amount of people waiting on the list will begin to decrease. In 2003, there were approximately 83,731 people waiting for an organ donation and only 25,473 transplants performed. (“U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” 2018). The data shows that only about 30% of people that are in demand for an organ received the transplant that year. In 2015, there were 122,071 individuals waiting for an organ donation and only 30,975 transplants performed that year (“U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” 2018). Calculation shows that only 25% of the people in a need of organ transplant actually received one. It can be seen that the amount of people waiting for an organ has increased from 2003 to 2015 by much more than the amount of people that are donating organs. If a chart was created from the data that was accessed from the website, it would show a strong negative correlation between the people in a need of an organ and the individuals that are donating organs. These people should be able to live and enjoy life if it can be done. Individuals that are desperately waiting for an organ donation could be still continuing pursuing their dreams on this Earth and keep the relationships that have been made for a longer period of time. By changing the systems from donation to sale of organs would not only help the list of people desperate of an organ transplant to decrease, but would also benefit both the donor and the recipient in the process.

        As been said above, there are many people that are in a great need of an organ donor that could save individual’s life, but by organ donation only one side of the party actually gets benefited. It is necessary to recognize through how much suffering that the donor (if alive) goes through and how much stress the family of the donor goes through. While the receiver gets the precious life extended if everything goes well, the donor’s life could be shortened or the procedure could go wrong in the process. It is only fair for the donor to also be benefited in some way or form than just the receiver that is getting the opportunity to have that life time expanded. According to CNN author Elizabeth Cohen, there were four living donors that have died since 1999 from a liver donation and approximately 38% of donors have some kind of complications from donating organs (“CNN,” 2010). This data was just for those eleven years and it has been nineteen years since the article was written, that meaning that there very highly likely been more incidents in which the living donors have died in the process of organ transplant. The percentage of the donors that end up having a complication from donating is fairly high and those people do not get compensated for the process going wrong. The donors are putting their lives in danger, hoping that every step of a transplant goes well and both the donor and receiver are healthy in the end of the process. Not only will it compensate the donor for the organ transplant, many more individuals will more likely become involved in organ transplantation knowing that they will get something in return. Organ sale could also help the poor that are in a great need of money to pay for living and their family, it gives them the opportunity to help others and also receive what they really need. Introducing organ sale could substantially boost up the economy and bring down the amount of people that live under the poverty line. Organ donation would not benefit both parties like legal organ sale would and it would also give a bigger hope for the family that is in a need of an organ transplant because more individuals will be willing to participate in organ transplantation.

        When family or friends go through a rough time knowing that their loved one might die before a donor is found, nothing can make them happier than finding out that there is a person that is willing to give an organ to that individual. Even if the family doesn’t have much money to pay to the person that is giving an organ, they can reach out the the community for help and have some type of fundraisers to raise the money that will be needed. American Transplant Foundation states that about 20 people die each day while waiting for an organ donation (2018). Most of the people that die each day are leaving their family and friends behind in pain and sorrow. The amount of people that are dying each day while waiting for an organ could be decreased to a much smaller amount if organ sale was legalized. These families could have a much higher hope of having their loved one fixed and brought back on their feet. It is very hard for family members or friends to lose someone they love and organ sale would help avoiding just that. There are families that are just in too much of a need for an organ that they go and purchase those organs on the black market. Legalizing organ sale would help eliminate the black market and the black market for organs will not be stopped if the sale isn’t legalized. These poor families don’t have to look for illegal ways of saving their loved ones. Donate Life Midwest tells a story about the girl that died while waiting for an organ transplant (2018). This girl named Alexa and her family were desperately waiting on the list for a lung donation for seven years and then passed away. This family could have had a much higher hope for Alexa to be alive and well today if the organ sale was legalized. There are many families, just like Alexa’s family, that have lost their loved ones from not having the organ that was needed. A family members passing away does no good to the families at all and it could be avoided for the most part if there were more organs available. Organ sale unites and gives hope for the families that are in need of an organ.