Preview

Death Row Inmates Research Paper

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1640 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Death Row Inmates Research Paper
Could Death Row Inmates be a Viable Source for Donated Organs?
Angela Rogers
Ottawa University

INTRODUCTION
There is a high demand for organs and a shortage of donors in the US. We need to find a way to bridge the gap. Most Americans are wary of donating organs so why not allow convicted felons to do some good with the organs that they have? Death row inmates could be a viable source of transplantable organs. To discourage exploitation of death row inmates there should be provisions made and guidelines followed, but nevertheless they should be allowed to donate.
Supply and Demand
According to the OPTN (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network) there are 115,720 people on the waiting list for organs; everything from kidney, liver, heart
…show more content…
He was convicted of killing his wife and three children in 2001. He feels like they would just be throwing away his organs and that they could be saving other lives instead. (Persky 2012) He also has been trying to set up a pro-inmate donation organization called Gifts of Anatomical Value from Everyone or G.A.V.E. There has not been an inmate that has been able to donate to a non-relative to date. There are many other examples of inmates that want to give maybe because they want to give back for their sins or maybe it’s because they have family that needs either way it seems they could save a …show more content…
Chuck Graham. The bill would have commuted death row inmates’ sentences to life without parole if they agreed to donate a kidney or bone marrow, but it was not passed. (Bioethics) There were ethical concerns and opposition from organ procurement groups.
Reasons to oppose organ donation
There are some reasons that organ donations by death row inmates are opposed and they range from the high-risk environment that prisoners actually live with to infectious diseases to the way that they are executed. The testing for infectious disease is not 100% accurate but it is greater than 98%. (G.A.V.E) The current lethal injection protocols are new today they are not the old school lethal injection that destroys all the organs and blood. Most states have adopted the new one-drug protocol which preserves organ viability. (G.A.V.E)
Accepting organ donation by inmates
As long as the body is put to sleep the organs can be salvaged. There would not be any chemical abuse to the organs there wouldn’t be any electrical shock that would fry the organs and they would be viable to be transplantable. This would be a human way to be put to death and to save lives at the same time. Perales states, “The inmates’ organs would undergo the same stringent testing as any other organs procured from traditional donors before being

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    There needs to be a change in the way the organ donation system is set up. The system in place for organ donation is not effective. As of right now you have to manually opt-in on your driver’s license or get a card that says you want to donate. This is not the best method for organ donors, or those waiting for donations. Automatic opt-in, or the opt-out method may be the solution to the ever growing list of patients waiting for a postmortem organ.…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As in any business transaction, I feel that anytime money is introduced revolving around a decision, that decision can be skewed and these decisions are made based on the wrong reasons. In the end I understand that each day we have an average of 22 people that die while waiting for appropriate organ to become available and that either cannot that can't take place or they wait for an extended amount of time because of the shortage of donated organs. I just feel that paying someone for their donation, doesn’t really make it a donation, it is basically someone paying for an item they…

    • 949 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Caged animals in zoos often involve our sympathy for their lack of freedom. Actually they are treated well, not to mention animals raised by private person. They are so noble that they are bought insurances, fed expensive pet food and provided medical care. They are treated as baby humans or sometimes more than humans. However, for human beings imprisoned, even giving them basic medical care is likely to make some law-abiding taxpayers annoyed. They don’t want to give prisoners any essential help. When prisoners are badly ill and need organ transplants, people want to ignore the medical need of prisoners and blame that “they deserve to die”. I feel so guilty for all these people, thinking of human lives more trivial than caged animals. This is definitely wrong. Leaving them alone means killing them. I believe prisoners’ medical need on transplantation should not be ignored.…

    • 1108 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    National Kidney Foundation

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Many families are desperate to save their loved ones lives, and would even consider a committing a felony to make this hope a reality. Unfortunately due to the process of purchasing organs for transplants is illegal, a lot of these operations are run in unsafe and unsterile locations such as cheap hotel rooms. By decriminalizing the act we remove the risk associated with sterilization and post operative care as well as ensure that the families do not have to associate with criminals but instead legitimate doctors and other medical personnel. My proposal is instead of having one list for organ donations have two. One for the people who have the money to acquire the kidney and speed up the process, and the second one would be remain as a donation only list ensuring that the list is shortened and they still have the same opportunity they did before if not better. In addition to the two lists the option for a family member or friend who is a blood match is still an option for donation would remain. Of course, this would have to be a government monitored list with regulations set into place such as a max cap on how much a organ could costs, tax deductions, and…

    • 1312 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good 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

    Essay On Organ Donation

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Many people have to wait a long time for to have a organ donation, so it’s important to have more people donating their organs.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Organ Donor Complications

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Organ donation gives a person the power to give a mother, father, grandparent, friend, and a child back to their loved ones for a second chance at life. By donation of tissues, ligaments, and bones, a person has the ability to give the gift of movement back to a person. With all of these wonderful aspects of organ donation, comes the reasons why many people do not become donors/recipients. The cost of being able to save a life or receive an organ is outrageous. The government needs to reimburse the people to help cover the price. Many countries are taking action to organ trafficking and setting laws. There are some organized groups to get involved with that will help stop the unfortunate black market business. Until the goal of ending organ trafficking completely happens, the United States should make these donations more…

    • 641 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Persuasive Organ Donation

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Currently, the need for organ donors is greater now than ever before. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, UNOS, in the United States alone…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 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
  • Powerful Essays

    As the prison population in America grows in numbers and increases in age, questions and debates about the allocation of medical resources to prisoners will grow in urgency. One issue which arises every so often is whether convicted felons, especially those who are awaiting capital punishment, should receive the same level of medical care as others in society - including scarce donor organs for the purpose of transplantation. As is often the case, the debate over whether a death row inmate should receive an organ transplant is not a single controversy, but rather several rolled into one. Being able to address the larger question requires disentangling the smaller questions and examining each in turn. What role, if any, should a person 's social and moral worth play in the allocation of medical resources? Are prisoners still members of society, deserving of the same medical considerations as others?…

    • 1620 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Because the need for organs is always present in our society, illegal organ trafficking is current and goes on every single day. At the same time, people who are legally and patiently waiting for an organ die in the process. Data from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) shows that in 2010 alone, there were 90,000 patients waiting for a life-saving organ. From those on the waiting lists, there were only 17,000 transplants performed that year. About 10,500 of them were from dead donors while only 3,000 came from live donors. Meanwhile there were about 28,000 names removed from the UNOS waiting list. Want to know what happened to the other 11,000 patients? 4,600 names were removed because the patients died waiting while the other 2,100 names were deleted because the patients became too sick to withstand the transplant.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Efforts in the United States to provide financial incentives as a means of increasing cadaveric organ donations have failed because of congressional intent that human organs not be placed in a commercial market. (NOTA,…

    • 1270 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Becoming An Organ Donor

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Most often times negative connotation is attached to the topic of organ donation. The reality is, as we all know, that we are not invincible, and someday every one's time will come to an end.…

    • 1142 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Intro: Imagine having to wait for something you really want. Could you do it, even if it took months or even years? Now imagine that it was something you literally couldn’t live without. Over 100 thousand people in the United States alone are waiting and have been waiting for organ donations that can save their lives.…

    • 832 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Organ Donation

    • 2093 Words
    • 9 Pages

    others and the misfortune of that generous person. Someone must die, in order for another person to live. Dying is a part of life, but nobody likes to talk about it. The reason many people don't talk about organ donation is because it involves death. But, by discussing organ donation and deciding to donate it could give another person a chance to live, or to improve the…

    • 2093 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays