The Pros And Cons Of Organ Transplantation

In a society in which medicine has become more technologically advanced, privileged people could possibly extend their lives with surgical operations. A common surgical operation is organ transplantation; this is when a failing organ of one person is removed and replaced with a new one which has been donated by another person. There are multiple organs that can be transferred from one body to another; such as, the liver, the kidney, the heart, and the lungs. A major issue presented with organ transplantation is likely to occur in the process of obtaining these organs. Organs can be obtained through cadaveric donors, living related donors, and living unrelated donors. There is a huge controversy over the donation from living unrelated donors.

Testa (2014), states that organ transplantation is subject to a supply and demand constraint; those that need an organ replacement out way the number of organs available which creates a dilemma. It is said that “each year national organizations report on increasingly long waiting lists for donor organs while the actual number of organs donated remains the same” (Hoyer, 2014). This is not surprising due to the fact that most people are not willing to part with parts of their body, and with those who are willing, we find multiple ethical dilemmas especially from medical persons. There are certain principles that are placed on the practice of medicine that go against the idea of organ transplant on a living donor (Testa, 2014). For instance, medical professionals are thought to “do good” and to “do no harm”; however, operating on a healthy living being always comes with the risk of causing harm to that individual. The argument that has been put forth with this issue is that, as long as the benefit of organ transplantation is greater than the risk then it should be socially acceptable (Testa, 2014). But the question still remains of whether there are any other benefits apart from the medical