Taarrok addresses and proposes a solution to the shortage of human organs for transplantation in the United States.
He cites Singapore, Iran and Israel as examples to support his idea of buying organs from donors.
Tabarrok points out that many people around the world suffer from kidney disease. In the United States he had 83,000 people waiting on the official kidney transplant list, but in 2008 they received only 16,500 kidney transplants. About 5,000 died while waiting for transplants.
To address the shortage, surgeons use several methods. The most extreme method is regular deletion. The practice of removing a piece of tissue from a deceased patient for transplantation without prior consent.
Similarly, in some US states, doctors may remove the cornea during an autopsy without notifying the family of the deceased. This practice, although legal, appears controversial.
By law, human organs can only be harvested after doctors have determined the donor is dead. During a transplant, doctors should pay attention to where the donor died, but not the organ.
However, determining the exact time of death is not easy. No one can accurately determine the boundaries between life and death. This is the deceased-donation paradox. Therefore, it is not possible to say for sure whether the organ was taken from a dead donor or a living donor.
In the past, brain-dead donors were a good source of organs for transplantation.However, today, with lower crime rates and improved motor vehicle safety, potential donors for brain-dead patients are becoming more available than ever before. is also less.
Doctors now focus on posthumous donations, but the practice is controversial. The lack of organs has forced doctors to transplant previously unsuitable organs. Kidneys from overweight or sick people are donated.
Therefore, the quality of transplantation is questionable as transplantation can do more harm than good to the health of the recipient. But even doctors have no alternative.
Some countries follow the concept of presumed consent. Under this concept, a doctor can use the organs of a deceased person without the prior consent of the deceased person or their family members, so anyone is a potential organ donor unless they decline this system by signing a non-organ donor card.
Presumed consent is popular in Europe, and India plans to launch the scheme. However, although it did not flourish in America, this can be experimented with for development at the state level.
The lack of organs for transplantation has led to a growing black market. This covers about 10% of transplants worldwide. This can have a negative impact on the donor’s health as the donor is less likely to receive adequate postoperative care. So legalizing the sale of organs for the benefit of all is a good idea.
Iran has solved the shortage of transplanted organs. She developed a legal payment system for organ donation. In this system, organs are not bought and sold at bazaars.
They started a non-profit called the Dialysis and Transplant Patients Association (Datpa) to help get kidneys to people in need. Patients unable to repair a kidney from a deceased donor or a living related donor should contact Datpa. Datpa has a medically screened list of potential donors.
The donor receives $1,200 from the Iranian government, and the kidney recipient he pays $2,300 to $4,500. Poor recipients are supported by charitable organizations. So there are no patients in Iran.
Important Questions
According to Taarrok, what is the “great paradox of deceased donations” ? Why is this paradox important?
By law, human organs can only be harvested after doctors have determined the donor is dead.
During a transplant, doctors should pay attention to where the donor died, but not the organ. However, determining the exact time of death is not easy. No one can accurately determine the boundaries between life and death.
This is the deceased-donation paradox. Therefore, it is not possible to say for sure whether the organ was taken from a dead donor or a living donor. This paradox is important because it raises ethical questions. It makes you think about taking one life to save another.
What are the positive developments in recent decades that ‘there are fewer potential brain death donors than in the past’ ?
In the past, brain-dead donors were a good source of organs for transplantation. However, today, with lower crime rates and improved motor vehicle safety, potential donors for brain-dead patients are becoming more available than ever before.
Security and car safety have significantly reduced the number of brain deaths. Good news for the world. However, the survival of people waiting for organ transplantation is at a great cost.
Taarrok names countries that have eliminated the shortage of transplanted organs. Which country? How was this achieved?
Iran has overcome a shortage of transplanted organs. It developed a legal payment system for organ donation.
In this system, organs are not bought or sold at bazaars. They started a non-profit called the Dialysis and Transplant Patients Association (Datpa) to help get kidneys to people in need.
Patients unable to repair a kidney from a deceased donor or a living related donor should contact Datpa. Datpa maintains a list of medically evaluated potential donors from a pool of applicants.
