The box on our driver’s license form asking if you want to be an organ donor is the same box that is on many hospital’s admission forms. Many people do not think much about what the answer to this question could mean for people in need of a second chance at life. The Living Legacy Foundation with its commitment to excellence and promotion of support of families as well as public and professional education concerning transplantation and research has made a point to bring this issue to the forefront. The foundation’s ethical principles and values, its culture and ethical decision-making, and social responsibility to the public will reveal its commitment to its mission, vision, and goals.
The Organization’s Goals, Ethical Principles, and Values
The Living Legacy of Maryland is an organization that helps facilitate organ donation and transplantation in Maryland. The main organizational goals are to carry out the wishes of each individual and his or her family struck by tragedy or facing death while saving lives. The foundation educates and supports families of organ donors.
The organizational goals of The Living Legacy help address several ethical principles. Organ donation and transplantation saves lives. Religious, cultural, and ethical principles play a part. Ethically many people are unsure if their family member will be treated the same if he or she comes into the hospital injured or ill already a registered organ donor. The Living Legacy explains to families that the team caring for their loved one is doing all that they can to save his or her life and if he or she is declared brain dead a different medical team, the transplant team, takes over with care (The Living Legacy Foundation, n.d.).
The Living Legacy of Maryland has solid ethical values as a corporation dealing with death, tragedy, and saving lives. Beneficence is one ethical principle that goes hand-in-hand with organ donation. The ethical
References: Ascension Health. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2011, from Key Ethical Principles: http://www.ascensionhealth.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78:principle-of-beneficence&Itemid=171 Diethelm, Arnold. G., (May 1990). Ethical decisions in the history of organ donation. In Presidential Address (vol.211, no. 5, pg. 509). Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1358215/pdf/annsurg00171-0009.pdf Maina, M. (2010). What are the social responsibilities of business? Helium. Retrieved from http://www.helium.com/items/1820093-ways-that-businesses-can-be-responsible-to-the-society National Defense University (n.d.). Strategic leadership and decision-making. Retrieved from http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ndu/strat-ldr-dm/pt4ch15.html The Living Legacy Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved June 23, 2011, from Second chances. Infinite hope.: http://www.thellf.org/default.asp?id=31 Why Donate? From Donate the Gift of Life. (2011) Retrieved June 27, 2011, from http://www.organdonor.gov/default.asp