Do Current Organ Transplant Policies Restrict Potential Donors?
Huffington Post | Janet Radcliffe
Janet Radcliffe - Professor of Practical Philosophy, University of Oxford; Distinguished Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
A friend of mine, a transplant surgeon, was emotionally recounting a recent experience. A young woman with organ failure desperately needed a transplant, but none was available, and she was sinking rapidly. She, her family, and the medical team expected that she would be dead before the morning, and she had already said her goodbyes. The team was in despair, knowing that they could have saved her if only the means had been available. Then, suddenly, news came that a donor had been found. Everyone rushed into action, and by the next day joy was unconfined.
That story had a happy ending, but its purpose was to emphasize the thousands of similar stories that end in tragedy. Innumerable people experience firsthand the misery of failing organs, and their doctors suffer the intense distress of knowing they have the skills to save them but not the organs themselves.
The trouble is that organs are not -- at least yet -- like other medical supplies and equipment, to be manufactured at will. All organs come from other people, and most of those other people demand rights over their own bodies, not only while they are alive but even when they are dead.
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{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
Janet Radcliffe - Professor of Practical Philosophy, University of Oxford; Distinguished Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics
A friend of mine, a transplant surgeon, was emotionally recounting a recent experience. A young woman with organ failure desperately needed a transplant, but none was available, and she was sinking rapidly. She, her family, and the medical team expected that she would be dead before the morning, and she had already said her goodbyes. The team was in despair, knowing that they could have saved her if only the means had been available. Then, suddenly, news came that a donor had been found. Everyone rushed into action, and by the next day joy was unconfined.
That story had a happy ending, but its purpose was to emphasize the thousands of similar stories that end in tragedy. Innumerable people experience firsthand the misery of failing organs, and their doctors suffer the intense distress of knowing they have the skills to save them but not the organs themselves.
The trouble is that organs are not -- at least yet -- like other medical supplies and equipment, to be manufactured at will. All organs come from other people, and most of those other people demand rights over their own bodies, not only while they are alive but even when they are dead.
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
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