Case 39 : ORGAN SUPPLY
Challenges
A 32-year old male patient needs kidney transplant. His condition deteriorated since his admission a month ago. His relatives and friends raised funds needed for the operation, but found no suitable donor yet.
Question
What are some possible ways to increase organ supply for transplants?
Solutions
Obtaining more organs available for transplants is indeed a difficult task. Perhaps many more people would be willing to donate if only they were properly informed of the possibilities and benefits of donating, and were encouraged to do so.
The most feasible sources of organs are patients who have just died. Thus hospitals may develop procedures requesting organ donations from the family of a dying or deceased person. Likewise, the public may be educated and encouraged to manifest their desire to donate their organs after death. The Anatomical Gift Act in the US, for example, allows one to indicate such a desire in one’s driver’s license. In these cases, it would still be best to first ask the family to confirm such donation.
Some authors even advance the idea (not universally accepted) of establishing a presumption in favor of organ donation after death. The proposal assumes one wishes to donate, unless signed a document or made an explicit statement against it. In other words, there would be no need to obtain permission before removing organs from a dead person, as long as no known objections from the patient or the family exist. This argumentation is based on the common good, on the fact that removing organs after death causes no physical harm in any way, and on the desire of using these organs to save lives instead of just allowing them to decompose.
Finally, while certain organs are indeed difficult to obtain, handle, preserve and transport, others are not necessarily so. Blood and cornea belong to the latter group, the supply of which, through more aggressive information campaigns and active solicitation, could be more easily augmented.
