An Ethical Implication of Organ Transplants
An Ethical Implication of Organ Transplants
Nickolus Sorenson
Health Care Ethics and Medical Law
Instructor: Kymberly Lum
September 24, 2012
All aspects of health care face the inevitability of moral and ethical issues arising on numerous fronts. The organ donation and transplantation field of medicine is no exception. Each day, approximately 18 people die waiting for an organ to become available for transplant (Taranto, 2010). In the grand scheme of things this may not seem a significant number; however, the fact that over 6,500 individuals with families, friends, and an otherwise productive life will die needlessly every year is obviously a far cry from acceptable. This particular lack of resource does not discriminate. The patients that are affected are children, parents, and grandparents. They are men and women, rich and poor, black and white. Due to the shortage of organs available, there are several resulting ethical dilemmas specific to organ donation and transplantation. Just a few examples are as follows: (1) the questionable status of a brain-dead patient thus the potential withholding of a donation- taking into account the occasional recovery of a patient with severe brain injuries (2) biological cloning and the debatable issue of its helpfulness versus its ethical implications and (3) criteria for selection of recipients thought by some to be discriminatory. Perhaps the largest concern is the perceived favor of the rich over the poor, which has inevitably gone so far as to lend ammunition to the black market and at the very least is causing the general public to question the possible exploitation of donors and recipients; also, the shortage of available resources in the form of viable organs seems only to serve as a reinforcement of this suggestion. It is clear that the somewhat general consensus of favoritism existing among organ transplantation recipients is not without foundation. Media has
Nickolus Sorenson
Health Care Ethics and Medical Law
Instructor: Kymberly Lum
September 24, 2012
All aspects of health care face the inevitability of moral and ethical issues arising on numerous fronts. The organ donation and transplantation field of medicine is no exception. Each day, approximately 18 people die waiting for an organ to become available for transplant (Taranto, 2010). In the grand scheme of things this may not seem a significant number; however, the fact that over 6,500 individuals with families, friends, and an otherwise productive life will die needlessly every year is obviously a far cry from acceptable. This particular lack of resource does not discriminate. The patients that are affected are children, parents, and grandparents. They are men and women, rich and poor, black and white. Due to the shortage of organs available, there are several resulting ethical dilemmas specific to organ donation and transplantation. Just a few examples are as follows: (1) the questionable status of a brain-dead patient thus the potential withholding of a donation- taking into account the occasional recovery of a patient with severe brain injuries (2) biological cloning and the debatable issue of its helpfulness versus its ethical implications and (3) criteria for selection of recipients thought by some to be discriminatory. Perhaps the largest concern is the perceived favor of the rich over the poor, which has inevitably gone so far as to lend ammunition to the black market and at the very least is causing the general public to question the possible exploitation of donors and recipients; also, the shortage of available resources in the form of viable organs seems only to serve as a reinforcement of this suggestion. It is clear that the somewhat general consensus of favoritism existing among organ transplantation recipients is not without foundation. Media has
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