Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

How to save a life

Organ donation is no tragedy, but it can be a beautiful light in the midst of one.
Did you know that there are 122,525 people waiting for an organ donation right now?
Each day, about 79 people receive organ transplants. However, 22 people die each
day, waiting for transplants that cant take place because of the shortage of donated
organs.(HRSA). 22 people will die today, not because of a car accident, a shooting, or
because of natural causes, but because of waiting on an organ transplant. These
numbers may not seem like much, considering the amount of people in the United
States. These people are dying because there is lack of people willing to give to others,
willing to be heroes. If more people considered being donors, alive or deceased, the
numbers would decrease greatly. Sadly, most never take the time to think about it.
Nobody likes thinking about what will happen to them if they, or a loved one, gets sick,
or about what happens when they die.

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

Fig. 1. Julie was a heart transplant patient at Seattle Childrens Hospital. This is
her waiting on a heart early 2014. Photo by Rose Ibarra.

People who register as organ donors want to help. However, most people fail to
realize that they can help someone who needs an organ before they pass. This is
because many people waiting for organs to become available need kidney, lung,
pancreas, and liver transplants, which living people can donate. This is due to the fact
that people have two kidneys and only need one to survive and live liver, pancreas, and
lung donations only require a piece of the organ to be harvested, therefore the living
donor experiences minimal side effects while saving a life. A live donor can also donate
blood and bone marrow which can save lives of patients suffering from sickle cell, or
certain types of cancers, such as lymphoma. We can help those with infertility issues
by donating eggs and sperm. This gives the patient a chance for a family. People worry
about doing live donations because of the recovery. Due to educational advances, there

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

are methods that make donating easier for us. In 1995, a laparoscopic surgical method
was used for the first time on a living donor kidney. This made the incision smaller and
concluded in an easier recovery for the donor.

As living human beings people can help so many people in need, yet many fail to
do so out of fear, ignorance, religious beliefs, or because they have not experienced a
loss that could have been prevented with human kindness. However, if someones
family members needed a transplant, they would understand the frustration of watching
someone close to them such as a son, daughter, or spouse wait on a list and potentially
become one of many who do not receive an organ before they pass. It is maddening to
be unable to help someone close to you, and know that you must rely on the kindness
and willingness of strangers to donate a piece of themselves.
The first successful kidney transplant in the United States was made by a living
donor in 1954. A twin donated his kidney to his brother. In order to do a living donation,
people used to have to be related to the family member, but now that is not the case.
From then on, there have been many medical advance that has save countless lives
from living donors. Today, more than 6,000 living donors per year give the gift of life to
another person, and one in four of these living donors aren't biologically related to the
recipient. (donatelifenc.org). One organ donor can save up to 8 lives and enhance the
lives of up to 50 upon their death. It is amazing what people are capable of doing when
they are willing to help one another with selfless acts of love.

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

Sallee is one of many people who was in need of a transplant, specifically a

kidney, but had difficulties finding someone who matched and would give her one.
Sallees cousin, Wendy, posted her story on Facebook, saying how she has been
waiting on the list for three years for a kidney and was edging inch by inch to the end.
The donor, Bonnie, found Sallees story along with her blood type, O positive, and
immediately felt the need to help, because she was moved by Sallees story and they
were a match. Bonnie got in touch with the hospital, which was in Houston, Texas, and
started getting tested to see if she could truly help. She passed the test with flying
colors and wanted to schedule the transplant right away. Sadly she was told she would
have to wait a couple of weeks because Sallees condition had worsened and she
needed to be stronger and stable for the transplant surgery to take place, to increase
the probability of success. A week or so passed, Sallees condition improved and
transplant surgery was scheduled. The transplant surgery which went perfectly.

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

Fig. 2. Bonnie, the donor is on the left. No matter how old you are, you can still help
save a life. Photo by Bonnie.

Sallee looked and began to feel better immediately. She could now live a longer,
healthier life without the aid of dialysis, with her two children. Bonnie, the donor, stated
Im just a 52 year old wife and mother who gave an extra organ to someone who
needed it. If I can do it, just about anyone can (Bonnie: Because of Social Networking).
Because of a simple post on Facebook, Bonnie ended up saving a life, thus becoming
someones hero.

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

Fig.2. This picture represents the fact that when you die, you no longer need your
organs. Instead of taking them with you to the grave, useless, you could give them to
someone in need. Photo by David Gianatasio.

Organ donation has been a controversial topic for many years now. Questions
arise. Should people even do live donations? Is it safe? Should we trust that the
doctors will take care of us and do there their very best to save individuals who are
registered for organ donation? Will the donor still be able to have an open casket
funeral? What happens during recovery? Will the donor be able to have a normal,
healthy, active life after donation? All of these questions and fears are some of the
things that keeps people from donating organs to those in desperate need.

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

People who donate organs or partial organs while living first must be healthy.
After donation and recovery, donors continue to live a full and active life because only
partial organs or a kidney are donated. Thus after a recovery period the donor is able to
regenerate liver tissue, and the body only uses one kidney at a time. While there is a
risk in any surgery, only healthy viable donors are able to donate, therefore there should
only be minimal if any complications from surgery. Testing is done, not only for
compatibility of the donor and recipient, but also for genetic factors, which may affect
the donor later in life. If there are any genetic factors or family history of organ failure or
disease the donor would be considered ineligible for donation.

There are requirements when it comes to being a live organ donor. The donor
must be free from high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, HIV, hepatitis, or diseases
dealing with the donors organs. The person should be fully willing to donate and be well
informed on what they are signing up for. It is also required that the donor has no
alcohol and substance abuse problems before giving an organ away. After making a
sure decision on donating, there are a minimum series of test for the medical and
psychosocial health of potential living donors. Transplant programs also require written
informed consent process that informs the prospective living donor of all aspects of and
potential outcomes from living donation. (transplantliving.org).

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

There are many myths about organ donation that need to be clarified. The most
dominant myth that scares people is If Im an organ donor, the doctors wont try as hard
to help me. This is definitely not true in any form or fashion. Doctors take the
Hippocratic Oath at the beginning of their career, which means they swear to do no
harm and to do everything that they can to help save a persons life, they understand
that no one persons life is more valuable than another. By not doing everything they
can to save a persons life, they would be killing a patient. Not only is that unethical,
they would be committing a crime, murder. Doctors swear to practice medicine
honestly, they become doctors to save lives, not to take them to save others.

Another myth is that doctors may declare the patient dead when they are not
actually dead yet. Leading people to question whether or not the person is actually
dead when their death certificate is signed. Many believe that doctors declare the
patient dead before they actually are, which is not true, and leads back to the first myth
that doctors may not do everything possible to save someones life. This is simply not
true. In fact, a patient is ran through multiple tests to determine if a patient is deceased,
in a coma, or if they are brain dead before declaring someone dead, or signing a death
certificate.

When a potential donor is admitted into a hospital for illness or a traumatic injury,
the doctors do everything they can to save the patients life, whether you are a donor or

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

not. At that point, they dont pay attention to the fact that the patient could save the
fellow down the hall. When the patient is no longer responding and the doctors have
done everything in their power to save a life, they run test to check for brain death. A
doctor cannot declare brain death if they do not run test first. For efficiency, a
neurosurgeon runs these test since it is their specialty. Patients who have brain death
cannot breathe on their own and have absolutely no brain activity. This cannot be fixed.

When brain death is declared, the hospital is required to inform their local Organ
Procurement Organization (OPO). The organization checks the state registry to see if
the deceased is an organ donor and if this is so, it gives legal consent to harvest organs
from the deceased. If the patient is not an organ donor, the hospital will go to the next of
kin and discuss organ donation with them. Once the hospital has consent, they start
looking for matches and it goes from there.

Patients may also worry that their family or loved ones will be charged for
donating organs. The family is only responsible for what the doctors did while trying to
save a patients life, which would be charged regardless whether the patient lives or
dies. However, this is sometimes misinterpreted as donation cost. Donating your
organs to save a life is free. The person receiving the donated organ will be charged or
their insurance will be charged. In some cases there are organizations which help
cover the cost of donations on behalf of the person receiving the organ. The donors

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

family does not pay for the cost of organ or tissue donation. All costs related to donation
of organs and tissues are paid by the recipient. (donatelifenc.org)

A great amount of people will argue that we shouldnt donate our organs. There
are many reasons people believe this and one of the main reasons is how the medical
field is portrayed over the media. TV shows, movies, books, and social media can all
make doctors look bad. For example, Grey's Anatomy is a dramatic show about
surgeons, which ties directly into transplants and organ donations. We found that
heavy viewers of the show saw Greys Anatomy as realistic, meaning that they felt the
images and the stories were realistic. And the more realistic they saw these stories, the
more likely they were to buy into medical mistrust. In one of the countless episodes,
there was a surgical intern that cut a patient's LVAD wire to make him sicker, getting him
up on the transplant list. She was reprimanded, but was allowed to complete her
residency. This would be a totally different case if done in a real hospital. A real-life
resident would not only be removed from the program and likely sued, but also unable
to practice medicine ever again, with the chance of jail time. (thedo.osteopathic.org) In
order to keep the show interesting for the viewers, the producers have to sacrifice
realism. This is just like any TV show out there, not many of them are realistic, even if
they say they are. Social media also plays into effect when it comes to distrust for
doctors. All it takes is someone bashing a hospital online for people to stop going there.
A patient that went under a colonoscopy secretly videoed the operation, catching the

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

doctor saying things that were terrible. In addition to their vicious commentary, the
doctors discussed avoiding the man after the colonoscopy, instructing an assistant to lie
to him, and then placed a false diagnosis on his chart. (kevinmd.com) The
anesthesiologist was sued and had to pay $500,000 for his mistake.

Fig. 3. The show Greys Anatomy causes controversy when it comes to Organ
Donation. Photo by Maguzz.

Its very clear that doctors are punished if they make mistakes and if they make
the mistake on us, we get the money from suing them. TV shows are not always
realistic, especially Greys Anatomy and social media does not always portray the
truth. Anyone can say anything they want and we usually will believe it. Unless we are
involved in a mistake, we dont need assume the doctors in the world are bad people.

Ashley White

White 1

Professor Scaife
Comp 1 8:00
11/28/15

The Hippocratic Oath is serious and every nurse, doctor, and anesthesiologist must
follow it. Do not let things we see and hear affect our views on organ donation. Dont let
that keep us from being organ donors.

In order to do organ donation, we have to want to do it. If we let the hatred of the
world fill bad things in our heads, we will never help anyone but ourselves. The lesson
is that our patient-the world, and the disadvantaged of the world-that patient deserves
our compassion. We are, should be, morally committed to being the healer of the
world. (Sherwin Nuland). The world needs our compassion and love to keep going.
Without it, a great number of people are dying and we can help prevent it. We are
ordinary people with extraordinary power and we know it, so why dont we go out and
use it? There are 122,525 people waiting for an organ donation and 22 people die each
day waiting for our generosity. If we have the organs and can help, lets help, especially
when we pass. Once we pass, we dont need our organs and we can save up to 50
lives. Even if we dont feel brave enough to do live donation, we can at least give our
organs away at death. There are many reasons why people should donate organs to
those in need. All it takes is as big heart and registration to become someones hero.
Where there is love of humankind, there is love of healing. (Shakespeare)