Organ Donations and Transplants.
Research shows that more than 84,000 men and women are waiting for organ transplants in the United States (Donation). An organ transplant can being very complex medically. People who need organ transplants have to be linked with the right person and more times than not they are linked with strangers (Donation). People who are placed on a donors lists are usually at the last stage of their illness. When someone hears the words waiting list it might be interpreted as a short means to an end but the reality is that the waiting lists can be very longwait sometimes. The words waiting list is not an actual list such as an apartment list. An apartment list is usually ranked in order based on a numerical application process. The donor list is a very large pool of patients that is not in rank order until a donor becomes available (Donation). The donor process then has to be evaluated by blood type, size and genetic characteristics. Blood types, size and genetic characteristics are all different from donor to donor there are no guarantees (Donation). Donors are placed in a national computer system with patients that match this process and this process might be different each time. The Organ procurement (OPO) is federally designated. The United States is divided into 11 geographic regions there is an OPO responsible for coordinating organ donations in each region (Donation). Transplants that are excluded from the OPO’s coordination are kidney transplants which have to be perfectly matched and the most urgent liver transplants. First priority for transplants go to patients who are in transplant hospitals in the region (Donation). There is a belief that organs are carried all over the country but the truth is that organs go to the patient in the designated region first. We see it on television sometimes the medical personal is getting on an airplane with organs in a water cooler this is a fictious account of how organs are really moved around to get to a patient.
Research varies depending which article is read. The first article said 80,000 people are waiting for donor transplants this article says that over 100,000 people are waiting for organ transplants (Staff). Many people who are waiting for a donor transplant might die before they ever get an organ donation (Staff). People who donate their organs to science are heroic people who deserve to be commended. The decision to donate one’s organs is a very scary thought. Some people believe different things about organ donations based on religion or personal beliefs. There are myths that might stop people from donating organs. One myth is the one that says if I donate my organs the doctors might not be so quick to save my life because I am a donor (Staff). The truth is whenever a patient goes to the hospital the doctor focuses on saving their life (Staff). Doctor’s take an oath to save lives and they would never let a patient die because their organs have been donated to science (Staff). Another myth is the patient will really not be dead at the death certificate signing this is not true (Staff). The truth is people who have donated their organs get more tests to declare them dead without a charge to the family when they are donors (Staff). Earlier in the paper it was mentioned that people refuse to donate organs due to religious beliefs (Staff). Many people will say they cannot donate organs because it is against their religion. The truth of the matter is that most religions have no problems with organ donations. Judaism, Islam, Catholics, Protestants and Islamic faith have no problems with organ donations (Staff). One should ask their ministers, priests, or pastors if they are unsure. Another myth is that rich and famous people are at the top of the list for organ transplants. There is a lot of media coverage given to famous people who get organs but this not true. Mickey Mantle was famous baseball player who received a lot of media coverage about his liver transplants. They are really like anyone else their status as a celebrity and financial status is not considered for organ transplants (Staff). There are many myths but the last one that will be mentioned here is I am not in the best of health no one would want my organs (Staff). The truth is that there are not many medical conditions that would cause a person not to be an organ donor. In some medical cases certain organs and tissues might not qualify to be transplanted but their might be other organs and tissues that can be transplanted (Staff). The human body is large and complex so some organs and transplants can be used even in cases where a person is not in the best health.
People should consider being organ donors because contrary to some the beliefs and myths organ donor can save many lives. Perhaps the reason why the list is so long for transplants and people die before they get a transplant is because people believe the myths there should be more information on the truth about being an organ donor. People who agree to donate their organs can save the lives of 50 people this is an amazing number (Staff). Perhaps people are not aware that that minorities i.e. African Americans. Asians, pacific Islanders, Native Americans and Hispanics die more from kidney, heart, lung pancreas and liver disease. Becoming an organ donor can help save the lives of these minority groups (Staff). These minority groups suffer more from the above named illnesses thatCaucasians do. Minorities should become organ donors they would be helping other minorities that have the above named illnesses.Many minorities might not be informed about being donors and they might believe the myths in larger numbers than Caucasians do.
Based on Web MD research 123,000 people in the United States are waiting for an organ. One person is added to the organ list every 12 minutes (WebMD). People that are waiting are in urgent need of a kidney, heart, liver and other organ transplants. 6,500 people a year need an organ and 21 die per day waiting. Organ donors are always short there are not enough (WebMD). People are not willing to donate some of the reasons were mentioned above. Research shows that most of the organs that are donated are from people who are deceased (WebMD). When a person fills out an organ donor card with their driver’s license they are agreeing to donate their organs when they die. The amount of organs that come from healthy people are less 6,000 to be exact (WebMD). Most people can be donors anyone under the age of 18 needs the consent of their parents (WebMD). If a person donates their organs after death a medical assessment has to be done to rule out certain medical conditions such as HIV and quick spreading cancer (WebMD). Members of the Medical team will do a test to determine whether a person’s blood and tissue types are compatible with the recipient to see if they are match to a person waiting for tissues (WebMD). This paper is based on the following quote “Members of CORE said there are about 110,000 people waiting for an organ donation, but only about 25,000 transplants each year” (OVMC). Based on the research that was done to write this paper the quotation is accurate. Before doing the research my beliefs were that the numbers were too high Depending on which article is read the numbers change but it is fair to conclude that there are thousands of people waiting for transplants and thousands die before they ever get one.