Tissue Donations

There are thousands of burn victims awaiting donations of human tissue to help meet critical needs in reconstructive surgery. My current case #49 regards the selling of human tissue donations. It’s a complicated situation where a few medical centers have acquired a partnership with a biotechnological company called Ardias Corporation. Ardias wants to create a tissue bank to help facilitate researchers with disease-specific tissue that will provide a link to accurate genetic sequence with diseases such as cancer. Ardias plans to supply a standard plan and, prior to surgery, patients will be asked if they would like to donate tissue samples. Surgeons will not be notified of consents and the patients will be securely protected of all information. Hospitals will sell the tissue to Ardias then in turn, Ardias will sell the patient information to biomedical researchers. The selling of human tissue is an ethical practice because it can facilitate better diagnosis and treatment of specific diseases. Human tissue plays an important role in medicine. They are used to help diagnose illness and to treat conditions. For example, a specific tissue such as bone marrow is transplanted into patients suffering from leukemia. In addition, companies such as “LIVESTRONG” and the “Susan G. Komen Foundation” do support the selling of human tissue. They generally state that it makes it possible for better drug development to help cancer patients. “Since we will all die someday, thinking about how we want our remains to be handled is something we should consider” (Comparini, 2003). Curing diseases is vital for anyone who has one. In the article I read it talks about the difference it has made and how you can go about the whole process of donating your tissue. This gives thousands of people the opportunity to heal or have some type of reconstructive surgery to improve their appearance and give them life again. Medicine has come along way and more people are living longer. In essence

References: Comparini, G. (2003, April). Donors Wanted. Navigating the path to organ and tissue donation. Retrieved from, http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/transplants/about.html National Human Research Institute. (2010, December 13). An overview of the human genome project: What was the human genome project? Retrieved from, http://www.genome.gov/12011238