Opinion: Organ donation is too risky
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Illustrations of the anatomy of the human head in profile in the style of a plastinate or an anatomical teaching model.
June 11, 2019
Organ donation can be a disheartening activity. Because of the high cost, surgical complications that can occur. The ethical factors that lead people away from choosing to donate. More often than not, the negative of organ donation outweighs the positive. Some negative facts about donating organs are the health issues that can affect the financed costs of contributing (an organ).
The procedure to harvest organs is risky. According to Vittana.org, the surgery offers a risk of death along with health problems that occur after the surgery. For instance, those who donate kidneys cannot consume alcohol afterward. Those who receive an organ have a 10 percent diabetic risk.
ConnectUsFund, a nonprofit organization, stated that “organ donation has costs that are incurred.” Organ donation itself is free. The healing process can have the organ donor stay in the hospital that ups the cost of a bill occurring. For many organ donors, it is free, but the pre and post-surgery are not and can rack up medical bills.
Another downside to donating organs is that not every organ is up to standards. Even if the donor is a direct match to the recipient, the transplant may be rejected. Organ donation is not a short-term guarantee or long-term guarantee. Rejection can be categorized under acute (weeks to months after), hyperacute (immediate) or chronic (months to years) rejection according to ConnectUsFund.
Ethical reasoning is a reason that organ donation can be foreign ground. Organ donation can contradict a person’s personal beliefs such as religion and ethics. Romanians because of their folk belief they oppose all organ/tissue donation according to LovetoKnow. In addition, Shinto don’t participate in organ/tissue donation due to their belief of operating with a dead body is ‘impure’.
Overall, organ donation is dangerous for the donor, the recipient, and the donor’s family. The ethics of the donor can stop them from donating for numerous reasons, including religious reasoning.. Donating can be expensive and risky with health issues associated with it. Altogether, the negative of this can outweigh the positive when it comes to donation.
