Organ Transplant Act

Having not been in a critical medical state, I would not be able to understand the desperation that patients experience as their life depends on that one organ. Similarly, I wouldn’t understand how some people are so desperate for that sum of money. 

The first issue that I would like to address today would be the foregoing of consent in harvesting organs. I personally believe that this isn’t a viable option at all. In fact, in my opinion, not only should we gain consent from the donor, we should also acquire the consent of the donor’s parents. After all, we were blessed with our body thanks to our parents. Imagine giving someone a gift with all your sincerity and that person simply sells it away without giving a thought about your feeling. 

Another issue that I would like to address is the addition of incentives to the donors. In the present, it is already known that some people go to blood donation drives to donate their blood, not to help people, but to get a free meal provided to all donors. If incentives were to be put in place to organ donors, we would expect people to donate their organs just to get their hands on that sum of money. This would then become an act of “selling one’s body” literally. 

First of all, I suggest that an agreement form to be handed out to the receiver, donor and donor’s relative. The operation can only take place after all three parties have signed the agreement form. I also suggest that the incentives to be converted into a more indirect form, take for example, hospital memberships, redeemable hospital bills, reimbursement of his medical fees. Hence there would be a bonus present, just that it isn’t immediately accessible. Also, the removal of incentives altogether should also be considered. Some may argue that this would act as a push factor to donors and would thus cause them to refuse donating altogether. 

 However, if the removal of incentives would deter people from donating their organs, then that would just reflect how greedy and desperate people are. Donating of organs should be in hope that you can save someone instead of thinking about yourself. Donating to save a life should be a selfless act; those who should think otherwise ought to reflect on their thoughts.