Rockland Community College 04/23/2013 Dayane Jean Marie Effective Writing- Prof Davis

Organ Donation
Not one individual in this world would like to die. Death is humans enemy #1. There is a part inside every soul that is deeply attached to life; a part that wants to live eternally. That strong desire to live as long as possible has motivated medical researchers to invent medications, sophisticated machines, and all kinds of techniques to elongate lifetime. As technology became more and more advanced, the quality of health became better since more cures got discovered, pharmacology made a big step forward, and panoply of apparatuses got invented to support life for a long period of time. Organ donation is one of the many options existing to save life, and sometimes it is the last resort. However, this medical procedure constitutes a controversial issue in that it goes against many peoples religious belief; it has also created a black market, an d it has increased the corruption rate among medical professionals.

Two centuries ago, the life expectancy was twenty to thirty years shorter than today because of the limitations of medicine at that time. But today there are numerous ways to postpone death, including organ donation. The gift of human tissues can without a doubt give hope and joy to thousands around the world, but this is an act of generosity that contradict many peoples religious belief. Many think that their bodies should return to earth intact, without any organ missing. Others believe that organ donation redefining the concepts of life and death; going against nature in that sense. The whole act of willingly taking a part from a human subject to transplant in another human body represents an attempt to modify life.

That eagerness to preserve life is absolutely normal because death has not been accepted by humans. Organ donation is definitely a solution to stretch life a bit, but this practice has opened a black market around the world. There is an imbalance existing in the organ donation trade. Those who are wealthy are always given the priority over those who might be less fortunate even if they were on the list for a long time. On the other hand there is the growing issue of those who can afford to buy organs that are exploiting those who are desperate enough to sell their organs. In countries like Africa and India, people are selling their organs for a few bucks to rich people of the western countries. This is clearly an issue that is taking away the altruistic aspect of organ donation. Organ donation may be a life saver, and it is the reason why it is extremely costly. A kidney can cost up to 5 million dollars which explains the existence of the black market organ donation. The fact that thousands of people are waiting for transplantation has made organs very costly. This has increased the corruption rate in the medical field.

Sadly, medical professionals have fallen into the unethical trading of human parts. For example, in 2008, California transplant surgeon Hootan Roozrokh was charged with dependent adult abuse for prescribing excessive doses of morphine and sedatives to hasten the death of a man with adrenal leukodystrophy and irreversible brain damage, in order to procure his organs for transplant. Unfortunately people who are unable to make informed choices are often exploited by immoral doctors for the sake of money.

Since the eighties organ transplant has become a more and more popular alternative to give a second chance at life to the very ill. More than 6,000 people die each year from lack of organ donor. Donating an organ or more can be an act of charity, but many are opposed to it due to its controversial aspects. Many refused to designate themselves as donor because of their faith making it an attempt to correct nature. Organ donation has also generated a black market where tissues are sold expensively, and the underprivileged are unfairly misused for body part. In addition, medical professionals have become less conscious because of the money they can get from organs trading. Organ donation is a very provocative subject that has lots of down falls. A gift to save life should not be a mean to enhance inequality of status between the rich and the poor.