Introduction
Organ transplantation can be considered to be one of the most rapidly advancing fields of modern medicine, with new and innovative techniques designed to optimise its method being researched and developed continuously. An organ transplant can be defined as a medical procedure involving the surgical removal of a damaged or failing organ and its replacement by an organ that is fully functional (World Health Organisation, 2015). An organ donor refers to the individual that donates the organ used for transplantation in the transplant recipient; the donor can be living, brain dead or dead via circulatory death. Cadaverous tissues or organs must be retrieved within 24 hours of heartbeat cessation and solid organs used for transplantation within a
…show more content…
For many years artificial limbs have been used in a variety of cases, but more recent is the application of life sustaining organs such as the bladder and heart. For instance, artificial hearts are considered a relatively successful application as a means of life support, used until the patient is able to receive a donor organ; moreover they are able to sustain life for up to 18 months. It is the hope of many researches, that it will soon be possible that artificial organs to be used as a permanent replacement for organ donors. From a moral standpoint this method of transplantation is relatively conflict free, as humans are not used as an organ source, however the fact that animal testing is used extensively in research does still raise ethical issues. It is important to note that there are still some groups that may question the current effectiveness, cost and possibility of malfunctioning of artificial organs. Thus the socioeconomic ethical issue revolving this initially costly method arises, where it can be pondered whether the money spent here could be used in other areas of