Wanted: Lifesaving Donations- Organs

Jésica Santillán and her family journeyed from Mexico to America with the hope that American doctors and technology could save Jésica's life with a heart-lungs transplant. Shortly after Jésica had received her transplant, doctors discovered that her body could not cope with having organs of an incompatible blood type. Jésica died after her second transplant. Thousands, like Jésica, die per year due to the scarcity of organ donors.¹ People should donate organs because organ donations save lives, few people donate organs, and most arguments against organ donation are flawed.

People should donate organs because organ donations save lives. Organ donations save the lives of many people suffering from diseases that render their own organs ineffective. According to Maureen Dowd and Janet Bailey's article "Jennifer's Gift" in Good Housekeeping, Jennifer Dowd donated sixty percent of her liver to her uncle who was dying of cirrhosis of the liver. Six weeks after the transplant surgery, the two pieces of liver in both Jennifer and her uncle regenerated themselves into whole livers, and Jennifer and her uncle seemed healthy. According to one of the transplant surgeons, Amy Lu, M.D., Jennifer's uncle had been far closer to death than they had anticipated.²

Other organ donations save the lives of people born with defective organs. According to Reg Green's article "A Simple Act" in The Saturday Evening Post, Reg and Maggie Green donated the heart of their deceased son and saved the life of a fifteen year-old boy, who had spent most of his life in hospitals and after the transplant could live a healthy active life.³ Even though organ donations save lives, few people donate organs.

People should donate organs because few people donate organs. According to Anna Quindlen in her article "Becoming a Secret Santa," in Newsweek, over 80,000 people required transplants in 2001 but only 25,000 received them.⁴ Each year the need for transplants rises, but number of donors remains the same. According to Dowd and Bailey's article "Jennifer's Gift," between 6,000 and 7,000 people die every year while waiting for transplants.⁵ The scarcity of organ donors often attributes to flawed arguments.

People should donate organs because most arguments against organ donation are flawed. One of the organ donation myths claims that doctors will not strive as hard to save the lives of organ donors. John Velencia, a coordinator for an organ and tissue donor network, points out the flaw in this argument in Clementina Altamirano's article "The Gift of Life." "Doctors take an oath to save lives. The organ donation process is separate from care given to patients in hospitals, and every measure is taken to save a life," he said.⁶ People also argue that donating organs infringes financial costs. According to the article, "A Pound of Flesh," in the Scientific American, many states and organ donation societies compensate donators or the families donating organs of the deceased for travel, food, and lodging expenses.⁷

The arguments that organ donations save lives, that few people donate organs, and that most arguments against organ donation are flawed prove that people should donate organs. Jésica Santillán's death could have been prevented if she had had compatible organs in time. But how can deaths like Jésica's be prevented if no one donates?

NOTES

1. Clementina H. Altamirano, "The Gift of Life," Hispanic, July/August 2003, 86.

2. Maureen Dowd and Janet Bailey, "Jennifer's Gift," Good Housekeeping, July 2004, 48.

3. Reg Green, "A Simple Act," Saturday Evening Post, July/ August 2002, 44.

4. Anna Quindlen, "Becoming A Secret Santa," Newsweek, 16 December 2002, 78.

5. Dowd and Bailey, "Jennifer's Gift," 50.

6. Altamirano, "The Gift of Life," 86.

7. "A Pound of Flesh," Scientific American, June 2003, 8.