Introduction
Organ transplantation is a field of medicine in which everything depends not only on the ability of doctors. It also relies on people being willing to save a human life by donating that which they no longer need. Organ and tissue donation after brain death is a blessing that will help improve the quality of life of many who need assistance. In this way, donating organs and saving another human being is an act that has no cost. Moreover, the development of society is characterized by a positive attitude towards transplantation. Therefore, my position is that organ donation is a valuable phenomenon in today’s world, which can save people’s lives.
Voluntary Decision to Save Other Human Beings
Organ donation is an extraordinary opportunity to benefit individuals. Those on the organ waiting list usually have terminal (most extreme) organ disease. It is significant to mention that the reason for this severe condition is not their careless attitude toward their health (Ruggieri et al., 2022). For example, among those who need a transplant, some children were already born with such a severe disease, and it compromises their further life. Thus, transplantation is the only means of salvation for them. Approximately 22 people die daily, or 8,000 a year, while waiting for a suitable organ to be transplanted (Ruggieri et al., 2022). Hence, if another person who is also on the edge of death wants to contribute to the survival of others, a donation can be a tool of support.
Moreover, each person decides whether to give hope for life to other patients. If the deceased expressed disagreement with donation after death, the organs are not removed. Otherwise, the donor consciously takes this step and indicates which organs they would like to donate (Ruggieri et al., 2022). That is why it is essential to understand the importance of postmortem donation because only one person can save several lives. Thus, the donation is a method that helps to save thousands of lives and, at the same time, is a voluntary decision. Furthermore, organ donation helps a part of the deceased to live on, even in other individuals.
Some people believe that because of the presumption of consent to donation, doctors will not fight for the life of a loved one to the end or treat it appropriately. This is not completely true because the possibility of organ donation is raised only after death has been confirmed. Until then, the goal of every doctor is to save the dying person. It is essential to mention that people live a long life after transplantation. They participate in athletics, travel, and support their families. There are numerous examples when people with a transplanted heart live more than 30 years after transplantation, and this is not the limit. In this way, a posthumous donor can save another individual and give life to people who have not even been born yet.
Black Market
The expansion of the practice of legal transplantation of organs can help solve the problem of trade in organs. For a quarter of a century the international medical community represented by WHO has been persistently addressing the existence of such a global problem as organ donor shortage (Tarzi et al., 2020). The organization mentions that the problem prevents the effective use of the possibilities of transplant medicine in terms of care for patients with severe chronic diseases. At the same time, WHO also reports that the fair and ethical use of the potential of transplants is hindered by the widespread trade in human organs around the world. For the past three decades, South Asian countries, primarily India and Bangladesh, have been the main suppliers of human organs to the world’s illegal market for donor transplants (Tarzi et al., 2020). This tragic phenomenon is criticized by most representatives of the international medical community, but paradoxically continues to persist. Hence, the expansion of donor practices will reduce the number of illegal surgeries.
In addition, the purpose of creating a black market of organs is to obtain an organ. In this case, operations are often performed in unsanitary conditions without considering medical indications. It is essential to notice that a significant part of people who voluntarily, for a specific fee or not voluntarily, got on the table of such surgeons die. Accordingly, their organs end up on the black market and are illegally sold for large sums (Brannon, 2022). This system has negative consequences for people, especially those from developing countries. This is because there is often news about missing people in third-world countries, and then they are found without specific organs (Brannon, 2022). Moreover, it worsens the overall system of queuing for organs because there is a specialization of organs.
Therefore, spreading the understanding among people that legal donation, performed in hospitals with consent and desire, will help people waiting for organs solve this issue. In this case, donors know they can help people for free, not create specialties and reduce the black market. Meanwhile, when speaking about non-postmortem donation, during the legal procedure, tests are first conducted to determine the health of the donor (Brannon, 2022). If there are no health problems and contraindications, hospitals perform organ transplantation. Accordingly, people can be confident that their health is not in danger.
Conclusion
Thus, donor organ transplantation is often the only chance for life for a person with a progressive chronic disease. Hence, writing information that donation takes place only with the consent of the donor and considering medical indications will help to demonstrate the safety of this method. Moreover, legal donation, if more people join it, will reduce the black market. This will solve the problem of kidnapping and speculation, and sale of organs.
References
Brannon, I. (2022). Ideas to Increase Transplant Organ Donation. Regulation, 45(2), 34.
Ruggieri, S., Boca, S., & Ingoglia, S. (2022). Willingness to donate organs after death: Development and validation of a Multidimensional Scale on Organ Donation. European Journal of Health Psychology, 40(6), 1293–1324.
Tarzi, M., Asaad, M., Tarabishi, J., Zayegh, O., Hamza, R., Alhamid, A., & Morjan, M. (2020). Attitudes towards organ donation in Syria: A cross-sectional study. BMC Medical Ethics, 21(1), 1-10.