Ethical Issues Of Xenotransplantation

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Background Information Xenotransplantation is the medical procedure of transplanting tissue / organ grafts between species (Fix, n.d.), and there are a great number of ethical considerations. Many of these are on a broader genetic engineering level while some are more field specific. Xenotransplantation has a large range of possible medical benefits (Groth et al., 2000) that are contrasted by a range of ethical concerns and considerations (Groth et al., 2000; Smetanka & Cooper, 2005), therefore as a society we must ask ourselves, to what extent do the ethical issues of Xenotransplantation outweigh the possible medical benefits for humans? Xenotransplantation in recent times has been considered as a possible alternative to normal transplantation, …show more content…

In the short term, demand of transplants can be met (Groth et al., 2000; Fix, n.d.; Cooper, 2015), which would reduce the number of patients on waiting lists for transplants. Using cross species transplantation can improve the quality of life that some people have. While transplants may not be flawless, as mentioned later in this article, they can ‘buy time’ for patients on waiting lists (The National Health and Medical Research Council, 2003). This can give people who may otherwise lose their life some time to enjoy things and fulfil their dreams or enjoy their final moments. Although this does not appear to be impressive to those of us with greater health, for the less fortunate it means everything (Groth et al., …show more content…

Largely, according to Gushee (2006) the sanctity of life concerns a larger range of issues, which is beyond the scope of this essay. However, some of the writings can work as parallel with religious aspects, and in the greater view, general belief. The National Health and Medical Research Council (2003) supports the idea that our views are moulded from our backgrounds and events that occur in our lives, however this could be holding the advancement back because we are still in the 20th century as far as ethical considerations are involved (Groth et al.,