An Analysis of Death's Waiting List
Student’s last name 1
Student Date Argument Analysis Essay In her essay “Death’s Waiting List”, the author Sally Satel raises a debate over an organ-donation issue. Whereas this topic doesn’t fall into the area of interest of every single reader, she shares her story and succeeds to involve us by providing focused thesis, flexible arguments, and balanced tone. The author places her thesis in the first paragraph and it explicitly reflects her opinion regarding the reason of the shortage of donor-organs: “I got a new one. My good fortune, alas, does not befall nearly enough people, and the federal government deserves much of the blame” (128). The author’s statement is clear and specific enough, but immediately arouses questions and requires support, which is further provided in various forms. Satel makes a right choice by introducing her own experience of being in a sharp need of a donor to replace her kidney, which makes the reader sympathize with her more. Such a beginning adds an emotional compound to her work but hardly can be treated as a valid support of her statement. What deserves more attention and definitely provide more solid buttress for Satel’s thesis is her choice of statistical data, such as “Someone on the organ list dies every 90 minutes” (127) and “More people are waiting for livers, hearts and lungs, which mostly come from deceased donors, bringing the total to about 92,000” (128), which Satel mentioned in the first part of her essay to make the readers familiar with the problem. In the second part, Satel makes her core suggestion to resolve the issue: “If we really want to increase the supply of organs, we need to try incentives - financial and otherwise” (129). The author shows that she is
Student’s last name 2
not only devoted to solving the problem by offering cash for organs but thinks of providing other options, such as a guaranteed health insurance, tax breaks, deposits in retirement accounts in exchange for organs, or at least a
Student Date Argument Analysis Essay In her essay “Death’s Waiting List”, the author Sally Satel raises a debate over an organ-donation issue. Whereas this topic doesn’t fall into the area of interest of every single reader, she shares her story and succeeds to involve us by providing focused thesis, flexible arguments, and balanced tone. The author places her thesis in the first paragraph and it explicitly reflects her opinion regarding the reason of the shortage of donor-organs: “I got a new one. My good fortune, alas, does not befall nearly enough people, and the federal government deserves much of the blame” (128). The author’s statement is clear and specific enough, but immediately arouses questions and requires support, which is further provided in various forms. Satel makes a right choice by introducing her own experience of being in a sharp need of a donor to replace her kidney, which makes the reader sympathize with her more. Such a beginning adds an emotional compound to her work but hardly can be treated as a valid support of her statement. What deserves more attention and definitely provide more solid buttress for Satel’s thesis is her choice of statistical data, such as “Someone on the organ list dies every 90 minutes” (127) and “More people are waiting for livers, hearts and lungs, which mostly come from deceased donors, bringing the total to about 92,000” (128), which Satel mentioned in the first part of her essay to make the readers familiar with the problem. In the second part, Satel makes her core suggestion to resolve the issue: “If we really want to increase the supply of organs, we need to try incentives - financial and otherwise” (129). The author shows that she is
Student’s last name 2
not only devoted to solving the problem by offering cash for organs but thinks of providing other options, such as a guaranteed health insurance, tax breaks, deposits in retirement accounts in exchange for organs, or at least a
Cited: Satel, Sally. “Death’s Waiting List.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions: a Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings. Barnet, Sylvan and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin 's, 2011. 128-130. Print. Fruit, Charles. “Letter of Response.” Current Issues and Enduring Questions: a Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings. Barnet, Sylvan and Hugo Bedau. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin 's, 2011. 131. Print.