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Tangie Caulder

Douglas

UWRT 1102

30 March 2017

Organ Donation

Organ transplantation is a highly complicated process, that includes multiple

complicated controversial aspects. Many of the controversial topics dealing with organ

donation must do with ethics. Many people believe that those that choose to give their

organs away should receive compensation for this extremely generous act; however,

there are ethical and moral aspects that come with allowing this. There is also a

religious and racial aspect of organ donation that many people do not consider or are

aware of. Some religions do not allow organ donation, and some people believe that the

UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) list has racist qualities when distributing

organs.

The first voice is the voice of those that believe someone should be

compensated for donating his or her organs. Nowhere in the world is organ trading

legal; however, there is a black market for organs, which is rapidly growing. Getting

compensation for organs is looking as a more attractive method, due to the rapidly

decreasing rate of donors. There is a pressing issue of not enough organs for those in

need, and the donor list is smaller than it has ever been; therefore, paying for organs

seems like a good idea to increase the number of available and viable organs. The topic

of paid organ donation is not only being brought up for discussion in the United States,

but multiple countries around the world including, The European Union and China.

Currently, it is acceptable to be paid for the donation of blood and plasma, some argue

that if this is legal why is it so controversial that paid organ donation be legal. There are

risks that are associated with donating blood just as there is with organ donation. There
are still risks that are associated with any surgical procedure, the risk of dying during a

kidney transplant is 0.03%, this is lower than a risk someone might take going to a paid

job. There is no difference in the risk of unpaid and paid organ donation. Contrary to

popular belief one does not have to be dead to donate an organ, many people donate a

kidney or part of their liver, and still continue to live a full and healthy life. When a

person dies most of the time the family decides what is done with the organs, receiving

payment for their loved ones organs could help significantly with the financial

responsibilities that come with laying someone to rest. This payment could come in

many forms, there has been talk of offering help with medical bills for donating organs

or being able to take an amount off of taxes. Some people think that legalizing paid

organ donation makes it okay for the body to be something that can be sold and bought.

The counterargument for this claim is that this is a choice an individual makes for

themselves not something that is forced upon them. This also makes it possible for

those in need to make some income and possibly help support their families. For

example, a man in London was found trying to sell his kidney in order to be able to buy

medications for his daughter, that was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and by not allowing

his to sell his perfectly viable kidney due to it being illegal, he was not given an

opportunity to save his daughter. There is a concern that this will cause wealthy people

to be able to skip the line, but this has nothing to do with paid donation, it has more to

do with the organization. There are also many ways to prevent this from happening; for

example, the article suggests that organs are all sold to an organization that manages

them and sells them by priority, similar to how the UNOS lists decides who gets an

organ now. This takes out the option of wealthy people skipping the line since the
transaction is not done person to person. Paid organ donation should be legalized due

to the fact that it can be regulated by organizations and could save many lives in the

process(Cameron, 1999).

The second voice race, those in minorities, are significantly less likely to be an

organ donor. The percentage of blacks on the transplant list is significantly higher than

those on the donor list. Some reasons for this include: lack of information about

transplantation, religious and superstitious fears, not trusting health care providers, and

many more. It is seen that hospital staffers fail to accurately translate the issue of organ

donation with black families in contrast to white families. Blacks also have a significant

distrust that fair and accurate donor/recipient matching will happen. There is also a

biological compatibility issue, blacks tend to have a more complex group of HLA

molecules than whites, this makes finding a matching donor for a black person more

difficult due to the donor list being mostly white. The issue of finding a donor/recipient

match for blacks could be solved by more blacks becoming donors because this would

greatly increase the biological compatibility. When awareness of the positive aspects of

organ donation need to be advertised in the black community. Many things factor into

someone's decision to become an organ donor including religion and social aspects.

When a loved one passes away, there is often a moral dilemma within the family when it

comes to organ donation there is often the conflict of empathy and religious beliefs. The

influence of the clergy in the black community is more heavily prevalent in everyday

decisions than it is in the white community. Black clergy can often be the deciding party

if a family chooses to donate their loved ones organs. This means it is crucial to

educate the clergymen on the positive aspects of organ donation. Most religions accept
the families choice of donation or not, instead of becoming involved in the matter. Time

is crucial when it comes to organ donation; however, requesting donation immediately

after telling the family a loved one has passed often causes suspicion and distrust of the

provider. The organ wait time for blacks is significantly higher due to the limited number

of donors. This is the result of distrust of providers and a conglomerate of other

reasons. The importance of educating the black community on the benefits of donation

is crucial and could mean the difference of life and death for someone(Plawecki).

The third voice is religion, it can influence people's decisions for many things,

including organ donation. It can also influence whether people are donors and whether

they accept an organ for transplantation. Religion has a stigma surrounding for not

allowing organ transplanting to take place, but this is not always the case. When

interviewed most religions permit organ donation, and some even support it, including

religions; such as, buddhism, Hindu, catholic, and judaism. Most religions encourage

selfless acts and the principle of helping others. There are still religions out there that

forbid organ donation and transplantation, but maybe not for the reason most people

think. The Jewish community has no position on organ donation; however, are

concerned with the question of is the process worth it, does this save lives? In the

Muslim religion; for example, this process is forbidden due to once the organ leaves the

body it is deemed impure. An issue that occurs in this topic is that it is not specifically

talked about in the fundamentals of these religions; therefore, it is up to

interpretation(Randhawa).

There are many voices that come into play with organ donation and

transplantation. Many people stigmatize religions voice as being a negative one, when
in fact most religions endorse organ donation. A voice that people usually do not

recognize being associated with organ donation is race. Race plays a big role in the

donation and recipient pool. The main voice that people think about with this topic is

money, should people be lid for this selfless act and what are the ethical implications

that follow allowing this. Whether or not one thinks this process is right or wrong, there

are people that need your help, and we should do more to help the shrinking donor pool

grow.
CAMERON, J S. T. E. W. A. R. T, and RAYMOND HOFFENBERG. "The Ethics of

Organ Transplantation Reconsidered: Paid Organ Donation and the Use of Executed

Prisoners As Donors<sup>1</sup>." Kidney International. 55.2 (1999): 724-732. Print.


Plawecki, HM, and JA Plawecki. "Improving Organ Donation Rates in the Black

Community." Journal of Holistic Nursing : Official Journal of the American Holistic

Nurses' Association. 10.1 (1992): 34-46. Print.


Randhawa, Gurch, Anna Brocklehurst, Ruth Pateman, Suzannah Kinsella, and

Vivienne Parry. "Religion and Organ Donation: the Views of Uk Faith Leaders." Journal

of Religion and Health. 51.3 (2012): 743-751. Print.

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