The Ethical Issues Of Organ Donation

Living a healthy life is a daily task that many of us take for granted. 115,000 people are in need of an organ transplant that would ultimately save their lives. (“Living Donation.”) People who live with organ complications or failures As a nation, education of organ donation must become more of a priority therefore opening more people to the idea of it. With more people educated on the topic, it would significantly decrease the number of death per year.
Organ donation and transplantation is the act of removing organs from a person known as the organ donor and placing them into another person, known as the recipient. Organ transplantation would be necessary if one’s organs had failed and were unable to function, thus creating fatal circumstances
Clearly, in the cases in which the donation is a directed one involving a family member or friend, more likely than not there is the emotional connection between the donor and recipient that may cause the donor to feel pressured into making this decision. This personal relationship between donor and recipient can cause many issues with the donation because it is absolutely necessary that the organ donor does not feel coerced or pressured to give their organs to the recipient that they may have emotional and possible familial relationships with. Aside from coercion being a possible factor in wanting to donate, some believe the donor would experience satisfaction and joy from the improved quality of life and health of their recipient. While there may be obvious motives for a donor to help someone who is emotionally connected with them, many transplant clinicians find it difficult to find motivation outside of a personal relationship. The clinicians are skeptical of non-directed donors in general, because their motives would have to be based purely on altruism, or the desire to help others with no personal gain involved. (“Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.”) “The radical altruism that motivates a person to make a potentially life-threatening sacrifice for a stranger” is something that people need to take into consideration (Truog, Robert D.) The psychology of the potential donor must be tested to ensure that there are in a mental state that allows for them to make such a decision as donating an organ. One case involved a man who appeared to be obsessed with the idea of giving away everything that he had, even at the expense of himself. After he had donated one of his kidneys, he considered planning a suicide in which the rest of his organs could be donated to others. Directed donation to a stranger also raises many more ethical questions than the two previous