Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Deaths Waiting List

Good Essays
1260 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Deaths Waiting List
Organ Donors Put Their Heart Into It
Every time a person goes into the DMV to get their licensed renewed they are faced with a proposal: Do they or do they not wish to be registered as an organ donor? The only physical proof of registering is a tiny circular sticker labeled “Donor” that can so easily be scratched off, and so easily forgotten until the time comes. In the essay, “Death’s Waiting List”, Sally Satel argues that morality will not persevere through this world of self interest , so an incentive program needs to be instituted. At first glance, this essay draws the reader in with its heavily persuasive sentimentalism, but when readers take a closer look they will notice the substantial quantities of fallacies, the lack of sufficient evidence, and the poor consideration of counter-arguments.
In her essay, “Death’s Waiting List”, Sally Satel recommends incentives be given to those who donate their organs. She believes this would save many lives, because it would increase the number of organs available to be transplanted, and would enhance the donors’ quality of life due to the different enticing offers. These offers include direct payments, tax breaks, college scholarships for donees’ children, and deposits to their retirement accounts (Satel 129). Furthermore she attacks the federal government as the sole problem in the lack of donors (correct me if im wrong)
Immediately in the essay, Satel uses pathos to draw in the reader. The first two sentences of her essay read, “March was National Kidney Month. I did my part: I got a new one” (Satel 128). Satel’s bluntness with her situation sets a tone of sorrow and pity that entangles the audience into the roller coaster ride that is Sally Satel’s unfortunate health. Subsequently, in the essay she uses pathos wisely again when she examines the Institute of Medicine’s report “Organ Donation: Opportunities for Action”. Satel believes not enough is being recommended for donees in this report, and she let on that this report is not helping the cause but in way hindering it because they are not concerned enough about the people physically affected by the organ donation process (Satel 129). This causes a huge tug on the heart strings of readers and will in turn cause readers to want to get involved.
Not only does Satel use pathos well, she uses ethos equally as effective in the introduction of her essay to gain that ground of reliability. Instantly, Sally Satel discusses that she has been through the organ donation process, so this in turn convinces the reader that she is a credible source for this issue.
This strong point of reliability is counteracted with her first use of a fallacy presented in her essay. After further examination and analysis, the audience should realize Satel is on the receiving side of the situation rather than the giving side. Therefore, the appeal to authority is a fallacy that is present because readers rely on her knowledge purely because the credibility of which is given to Satel is taken out of context. Succeeding this is the European policy, which fundamentally entails that if you do not sign something to opt-out of donating organs, your organs will be donated at death (Satel 129). This is a reasonable example for what could be done to solve the insufficient amount of organs donated, but the use of this example brings about the bandwagon fallacy. Just because the opt-out policy is expedited in Europe, does not mean it will fill the void for an auspicious donor policy in the United States. Along with the preceding fallacies, Sally Satel presents the Ad Hominem fallacy. In the essay, she brings about the issue of the federal government’s involvement in the organ donation phenomenon. She blames the short supply of organs on the federal government. Instead of promoting her idea that incentives should be given, she attacks the federal government to divert the audience’s attention from the matter at hand. Satel efficiently supports this accusation when it reads, “The 1984 National Organ Transplantation Act makes it illegal for anyone to sell or acquire an organ for ‘valuable consideration’” (Satel 128). Despite the validity of this statement, it still brings about the Ad Hominem fallacy.
An additional weakness, aside from the overuse of fallacies in the essay, was the lack of tolerable evidence. Despite the few useful sources and citations, Satel overwhelmingly does not include where the evidence was derived from and often the information given is hypothetical. The first aspect to consider is her use of statistics. Satel initially quotes the United Network for Organ Sharing statistic that “70,000 Americans are waiting for kidneys”, and this is a reliably cited source, but she continues on to relinquish statistics that are not clarified to be coinciding with the same source (Satel 128). Subsequently in the essay, Satel writes, “In polls, only 30 percent to 40 percent of Americans says they have designated themselves as donors on their driver’s licenses or on state-run donor registries” (Satel 129). She yet again does not cite her source. Because Satel does not clarify where she obtained this information, the information cannot be concluded definite. Along with her lack of using citations for her evidence, Sally Satel also uses many hypothetical statistics. An example that catches the eye of the reader was when she wrote “perhaps 13,000 a year, possess organs healthy enough for transplanting” (Satel 129). The word perhaps is not a word of certainty, which leads to the conclusion that this number is a faux statistic. Not only does this essay contain statistics that are off the cuff, it also contains statistics and information from sources that can be considered impartial. The “Ethics committees of United Network for Organ Sharing, the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and the World Transplant Congress” are all biased sources used (Satel 129). A strength that can be found in this essay is the use of authorities from the topic of organ donation, but it is not enough to overcome the use of faux statistics. Besides the unreliable use of statistics and authorities, Satel ambiguously deals with counterarguments. The notion that the incentive program would be “treating the body as if it were ‘for sale’” was the first counterargument “dealt with” (Satel 129). Satel countercharges this by saying that since we already have markets for human sperm, eggs, and surrogate mothers, we already have succumbed to this idea (Satel 129). How is a non-invasive procedure like the example Satel gave comparable to a life-threatening procedure like an organ donating transplant? The next counterargument that Satel delivered was also executed inadequately. Many people are worried that the incentive program that Satel suggests would cause an exploitation of the poor. Satel stated that this program would not exploit the poor but “enhance their quality of life” (Satel 130). Yes, the donor would have an enhanced way of life in terms of their finances, but when it comes to their health, how would a donor have this aspect of their life enhanced? Furthermore isnt it an exploitation to the poor to offer the benefit of a financially healthy lifestyle for a body part. Satel did not consider the many repercussions that may happen.
In “Death’s Waiting List” by Sally Satel, the superb use of emotional appeal sparked the interest of the readers and drew them in., but this emotional appeal was not enough to make the argument strong. Satel’s inclusion of fallacies, insubstantial evidence, and her bypassing of counterarguments constituted this essay as weak.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Organs For Sale Summary

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages

    “Organs for Sale” is an argument written in response to the on-going ethical debate of a market-based incentive program to meet the rising demands of organ transplants. With many on the waiting list for new organs and few organs being offered, the author, Sally Satel, urges for legalization of payment to organ donors. Once in need of a new kidney herself, Sally writes of the anguish she encountered while facing three days a week on dialysis and the long wait on the UNOS list with no prospective willing donors in sight. She goes on to list several saddening researched facts on dialysis patients survival rates, length of time on the UNOS wait list, and registered as well as deceased donor numbers. While Sally is…

    • 1135 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In relation to the ongoing debate of whether organ sales should be legalized it must be recognized that benevolence best distributes by the respect and recognition given to civil liberty, and yet the deprivation of both presents itself in the case of organ sales with awfully adverse resulting…

    • 686 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first paper appoints the issue of not legalizing the payment of donating organs. The National Kidney Foundation does not believe that the payment for organ donating will increase donations. The foundation wants to remain committed to helping people with donations. They believe that if it is legalized then disadvantaged citizens would take advantage of this opportunity that should only be done for the great feeling of it, and not the money. Sally Satel believes that organ trafficking should be stopped by legalizing some type of donor rewards. Satel believes that if legalized then people would give more kidneys or any other organ to help people on the waiting list. She also believes that certain incentives should be given and not just straight cash. Some of those incentives are; income tax credit, tuition vouchers for ones children, and a contribution to a retirement fund that would not be able to be touched until a certain age.…

    • 522 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Pt2520 Unit 1 Assignment

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The assignment requires the student to identify their personal views, and in exploring the relative merits of ‘opt-in’ and ‘opt-out’ approaches to organ donation, demonstrate their personal and academic learning…

    • 901 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In addition, the writer also uses emotional appeals in the article. By stating that only less than 50% patients receive a kidney and thousands of patients die because of the lack of kidney, Alexander aims to use pathos to arouse the readers’ sympathy for the patients. Forbidding compensation for kidney donators and the selling of kidney is a main reason for the lack of kidney because people consider the kidney donation as “a crazy act of self-sacrifice” and the donators as “saints” (Berger). Pathos helps the writer seek agreement with the readers through…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The ability to keep someone alive by replacing one of their major organs is an amazing achievement of this century of medicine. Unfortunately, the current supply of transplant organs is much lower than that need or demand for them, which means that many people in the United States die every year for lack of a replacement organ. When a person gets sick because one of his or her organs is failing, an organ is damaged because of a disease or its treatment, or lastly because the organ has been damaged in an accident a doctor needs to assess whether the person is medically eligible for a transplant or not. If the person is eligible the doctor refers the patient in need of an organ to a local transplant center. If the patient turns out to be a transplant candidate a donor organ then must be found. There are two sources of donor organs. The first source is to remove the organs from a recently deceased person, which are called cadaveric organs (Potzgar, 2007). A person becomes a cadaveric organ donor by indicating that they would like to be an organ donor when they die. This decision can be expressed either on a driver’s license or in a health care directive, which in some states are legally binding contracts. The second source is from a living…

    • 2294 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the “Yes, Let’s Pay Organs” the author Charles Krauthammer talks about organ rewards in Pennsylvania. In 1984 a federal law that declares organ a natural resources not subject to compensation. One of the objections in Pennsylvania ideas would affect the poor: slum housing street crime, small cars and hazardous jobs, while the rich, argued will not be moved by a $300 reward. The article also talks about the pricing of kidneys from the dead that cannot be sold at a market. The Pennsylvania program does cross the line but not all of them. Today people don’t sell organs from the living or the dead is a fence against the commoditization of human parts. There are 62,000 people desperately clinging to life, some of whom will die if we don’t have the courage…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The waiting list for patients in need of organs is growing daily. It is shocking to find that “As of April 13, 2011, there were 110,758 individuals on the waiting list for an organ transplant in the United States” (Cotter, 2011, para 1). This waiting list can be greatly diminished by changing the way we donate and initiating automatic opt-in laws.…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Compensating donors for organ donations is one of the most controversial debates we have today. The shortage of organ donations in America is the one of the main reason there is a sudden drive to supplement the possible sources of organs. It first began with the move from donations of organs from cadaver to donations from living donors, and no the debate is rerisen, to the possibility of building a market for organ donations with a financial incentive.…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    resume

    • 1378 Words
    • 6 Pages

    2.Signal Phrase- Towards the middle of the essay Satel states, "If we really want to increase the supply of organs, we need to try incentives- financial and otherwise." She also adds that, "Many transplant experts recognize this, proposing initiatives that would allow people to give their organs in exchange for tax breaks , guaranteed health insurance, college scholarships for their children, deposits in their retirement accounts, and so on... the Presidents Council on Bloethics and others, have begun discussing the virtues of such incentives."…

    • 1378 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yes, Let's Pay For Organs

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages

    As everyone knows, there are millions of people waiting desperately for an organ to save their life's. Now a days there are countries like Singapore that allows the commercialization of organs for a really high amount. Even though; United States prohibited the option to sell organs for money, I believe that having the option to save other people by selling an organ is a very smart idea. In "Yes, let's Pay for Organs" by Charles Krauthammer; a political columnist, writes an essay to demonstrate that maybe selling organs for a low price would and may help to our society in general.…

    • 564 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Lawton, K. (2010, August 20). Organ Donation. Retrieved October 12, 2010, from Religion & Ethics Newsweekly: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/august-20-2010/organ-donation/6830/…

    • 3136 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the United States alone, one hundred and thirteen thousand people wait desperately for the availability of organs, while the “three thousand death row prisoners [alone make]…the answer… clear: Allow for the donation” (Perskey 18). Some argue that of the three thousand available organs, many would remain ineligible for donation due to disease, complications, and lack of consent. However, if even one third of death row inmates actually donated their organs, up to eight thousand citizens could be saved. Furthermore, while some critics hold that those waiting on transplant lists may not accept organs from prisoners, multiple polls by the American people have demonstrated the widespread support of inmate organ donation. For example, in a survey “conducted by MSNBC news organization in April of 2011, almost eighty percent of [the] eighty six thousand seven hundred and thirty six voters responded ‘yes’ to the question, ‘Should death row inmates [have the option] to donate their organs?” (Lin et al). Moreover, when asking patients in need of organs through the active organ waiting list, seventy-five percent of respondents indicated that they would graciously accept an organ donation, whether from a prisoner or otherwise (Lin et al.). Therefore, the prisoner population within the United States could save…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    If it is morally valuable for me to receive a kidney, objectivity requires that the donation of a kidney to someone else also be considered morally valuable. The ‘organ taker’ must decide whether they would be willing to perform the same morally valuable act as they…

    • 806 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    According to the National Health Service, there are two types of organ donations, living and deceased. Nobody realizes what the numbers are and how many there are suffering. “Currently, nearly 124,000 men, women and children are awaiting organ transplants in the United States.” (Organ 1) According to The U.S Department of Health and Human Services, a person is added to the list every ten minutes. 79 people every day are saved by organ donation. (Need1) However, 22 people die waiting for a transplant because of a shortage of organs. (Need 1) Everyone will die one of two ways, either their heart will fail, or they will go brain dead. Many lives could be saved if people would step up and help. One 13-year-old girl helped saved 8 lives after passing from a brain hemorrhage. Jemima Layzell told her parents she wanted her body to help save others in the event of her death. “Her heart has gone to a five–year–old boy, a 14–year–old was given her lungs and her liver helped two boys, aged 10 months and five. Two people received her kidneys, a man was given her pancreas and her small bowel went to a boy, three.”(Teenage1) People who are willing to donate have a huge heart.…

    • 1536 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays