Causes and Effects of Low Organ Donation in the USA Essay Paper

The USA has more than 150,000 on the transplant waiting list at any given time and yet only about 15,000 of them end up receiving the lifesaving organs (Flescher, 2018. This implies that as much as 90% of persons in the transplant list end up not receiving the required organs. As many as 22 patients die every day because of medical conditions that could have been alleviated through receiving transplant organs. This state of affairs has been blamed on low organ donations and shortage of donors. The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that the USA has legislation in place that makes selling organs illegal. In fact, many countries have such legislations. This has created a unique situation in that is only expected to worsen if organ donations are not increased since the current demand greatly outweighs the supply (Flescher, 2018; Kaserman & Barnett, 2002). As such, there is a need for the USA to develop more aggressive strategies for procuring transplant organs.

Seven causes have been identified as responsible for the low organ donation in the USA. The first cause is the lack of information among the public. It is estimated that as much as 85% of the American population is ready to donate their organs. However, they are not well informed of their options and most of them end up dying without making the decision to become donors (Flescher, 2018). To be more precise, the current publicity approaches must be faulted since they are typically applied in the emergency room when a potential donor is in critical condition or brain dead. In fact, the publicity can be considered insensitive as it is conducted at a time when family and loved ones are facing emotional turmoil over the loss of a loved. It is not surprising that most family members will refuse to donate the organs of a loved on when approached at a time of grief (Goodwin, 2006). The lack of information creates a situation in which persons who are amenable to donating their organs are not aware of the opportunities to make donations.

The second cause is cultural beliefs against organ donation. Some of the potential donors feel that the act of donating an organ violates their body integrity. Not to mention that some potential donors feel that it is gross. Although most belief systems either actively or passively support organ donation (whether from live donors or cadavers), there are three main concerns. The first concern is the perception that the body is being desecrated, particularly when the organ is harvested after death. The second concern is the prohibition against deriving any benefit from a corpse. The third concern is the responsibility that humanity has to accord the deceased full burial without causing any intentional deformities (Tsouflas, 2018).

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The third cause is religious beliefs against organ donations. Some religions ascribes to the belief that every moment of life has supreme value, regardless of duration or quality. This means that life was already ordained by God, and humans only need to live their life without trying to increase its duration or change the quality of life. In addition, there is a general understanding that no life should be saved at the expense of another life, something that organ donation could violate by risking the life of the donor. Put simply, there is an absolute requirement that no life should be saved at the expense of another, so that the life of the door should not be shortened in order to benefit the organ recipient. Besides that, religion contends that a person is complete when the body and soul are together. The body acts as the core of incarnation and future resurrection. As such, harvesting any part of the body could result in the resurrected body missing the removed organ or having a detective organ. Causes and Effects of Low Organ Donation in the USA Essay Paper  Also, humans have conditional and restricted ownership of their body, and are answerable to God. This makes it clear that harvesting a body organ is an abuse of the body, a major sin against God (Veatch & Ross, 2015).

The fourth cause is distrust of the organ donation intentions and health care system. Some of the potential donors look at the transplant list and beneficiaries and end up identifying demographic trends that engender their mistrust of the health care system. Some demographics are disproportionately represented in transplant lists owing to having higher incidences of some medical conditions (such as African Americans reporting higher incidences of hypertension and diabetes). This situation has resulted in potential donors distrusting the health care system as they perceive it to be discriminatory in nature (Russell et al., 2012).

The fifth cause is the fear of being disfigured and loosing physical integrity following the procedure to remove the organ. Some of the potential donors feel that medical personnel are likely to do the procedure wrongly so that they are left with medical risks. This belief is advanced by cases of donors being harmed through wrong donation procedures. This is a legitimate concern when the donation involves a major surgery, such as when a lung is harvested and a large incision must be made (Tsouflas, 2018).

The sixth cause is the fear that the organ management system has been corrupted and the organs will be misused. Although organ donation has traditionally been founded on the pillars of altruism, it is not uncommon for transplant decisions to be based on non-altruistic reasons such as economic wealth, social standing, political power, and so on. Altruistic donors view these reasons as abuse of their goodwill, causing them to shy away from making donations (Dalal, 2015).

The final cause is family refusals. This is resultant from a range of reasons to include religious beliefs, hope for a miracle, rejection of criteria for declaring a patient dead, and information inadequacy. Other reasons include distrust of the health care systems, non-acceptance of body manipulation, fear of family reaction, and fear of organs being traded (Farrell, Price & Quigley, 2011).

The organ shortage in the USA presents some significant concerns. The first effect is reduced survival and quality of life of persons suffering from end-stage organ failure. The 90% of persons in the transplant list is essentially looking at a low quality of life and high possibility of death. The second effect is increased use of living donors, a concern since the donation risks their health when cadaveric organs would have served a similar function without presenting similar risks. The third effect is increased cost of alternative medical care such as dialysis that is useful for patients awaiting a transplant (Flescher, 2018).

One must accept that America’s altruistic model has failed to match organ supply with demand, and persons in the organ transplant list are left with grim future as most of them do not get the lifesaving organs. Seven reasons have been identified as being the causes of the shortage, namely: lack of information; cultural beliefs; religious beliefs; distrust of intentions and health care system; fear of disfigurement and lose of physical integrity; corruption and misuse; and family results. The reported shortage has three significant effects, namely: reduced survival and quality of life; increased use of living donors; and increased cost of alternative medical care. as a result, there is a need for the USA to develop more aggressive strategies for procuring transplant organs.

References

Dalal A. (2015). Philosophy of organ donation: Review of ethical facets. World Journal of Transplantation, 5(2), 44-51. DOI: 10.5500/wjt.v5.i2.44

Farrell, A., Price, D. & Quigley, M. (ed) (2011). Organ shortage: ethics, law and pragmatism. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Flescher, A. M. (2018). The organ shortage crisis in America: incentives, civic duty, and closing the gap. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.

Goodwin, M. (2006). Black markets: the supply and demand of body parts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kaserman, D. L. & Barnett, A. H. (2002). The US organ procurement systems: a prescription for reform. Washington, D.C.: The AEI Press.

Kaserman, D. L. & Barnett, A. H. (2002). The US organ procurement systems: a prescription for reform. Washington, D.C.: The AEI Press.

Russell, E., Robinson, D., Thompson, N., Perryman, J. & Arriola, K. (2012). Distrust in the healthcare system and organ donation intentions among African Americans. Journal of Community Health, 37(1), 40-47. DOI: 10.1007/s10900-011-9413-3

Tsouflas, G. (ed) (2018). Organ donation and transplantation: current status and future challenges. London: IntechOpen.

Veatch, R. M. & Ross, L. F. (2015). Transplantation ethics (2^nd ed.). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.  Causes and Effects of Low Organ Donation in the USA Essay Paper