Over the last decade, the global healthcare system has witnessed a rise in the number of people willing to participate in organ donation. By definition, organ donation is a practice involving the removal of organs from donors and implantation into recipients who have failing organs. The most common donated organs include the heart, liver, pancreas, and kidney (Arshad et al., 2019). With advancements in science and technology, more organs can, including the skin, connective tissues, lungs, intestine, ears, heart valves, tissues, and bone marrow, can also be donated to save lives. Organ donation was invented in 1954, with the kidney being the first organ to undergo successful transplantation. However, when various internal policies first accepted organ donation, there was a low turnout of people willing to donate. In essence, various barriers, including religion and personal beliefs, prevented people from registering as organ donors. The impact of such sentiments was that despite the availability of knowledge to save people through transplants, there were insufficient organs (Arshad et al., 2019). With low numbers of people willing to donate, the was a growing need for governments and the private sector to start lobby groups to educate the public on the crucial role of organ donation in protecting lives. Connectedly, this paper discusses the causes and effects of the growing number of people participating in organ donation.
The leading cause of the growing number of donations in the global paradigm is moral convictions that people must save others through donations. Before the invention of organ transplant systems, it was difficult to help individuals who experience organ failures. However, with the onset of transplants, people can now save others by registering as organ donors in different government or private institutions (Sayedalamin et al., 2017). The current awareness model helps people understand the role of organ donations in ensuring that other people can benefit from seemingly useless organs. For instance, most people register for organ transplants to ensure that their organs can be transplanted in others when they die or are in critical condition when they die or are in critical condition. By registering as organ donors, individuals have an opportunity to fulfill their moral convictions of saving other people from suffering. For instance, older people are more likely to register in organ donations due to the widespread perception that old age increases mortality rates in most countries. In this case, people believe that registering as donors prevent their organs from dying when they can be helpful to other people. In essence, most people register to fulfill the moral conviction that organs should not be wasted, whereas other people can live healthy and comfortable lives with them. With such beliefs, it is easier for lobby groups to convince donors.
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The number of organ donations has also increased due to the widespread belief that registering as donors could help one's bereaved family in the recovery process. In essence, most donors perceive that by donating their organs, their bodies would continue to live, even when they are dead. In this case, they believe that their family members would have less intense grieving periods, as they can still experience their deceased members through the recipients (Sayedalamin et al., 2017). Through donations, most recipients can have been able to live their lives with confidence. For instance, a child suffering from kidney failure could hugely benefit from an accident victim who had registered a donor. In this case, the child would live their entire life experiencing the importance of love and would most likely indulge in social activities for promoting wellness. For the families, the weight of losing a member would be less if the deceased were registered donors.
Government and private sensitization on organ donation have also led to increased people willing to donate their organs. According to the US donation statistics, more than 17 people die every day from conditions that could have been prevented through organ donations. Additionally, more than 90,000 people in waiting bays, hoping that people would donate kidneys to save their lives. In 2010, only 43% of the US population was willing to register as donors, with 18 people dying every day from organ deficiency (Arshad et al., 2019). However, by 2019, close to 53%, 165 million Americans had registered as donors. Statistics also indicate that 3 in every 1000 people die in situations that can warrant organ donation (Arshad et al., 2019). However, medics cannot harvest organs from unregistered donors, resulting in both legal and unethical conduct. In countering this problem, various governments have established organ donation centers for volunteers. Under the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, 1968, individuals can voluntarily donate their organs, but not coercion. With this law, the US government must convince its citizens to promote the need for donations. Various Organ Procurement Organizations have been established across the country to help volunteers effectively register and give their organs to help other people live healthy lives.
Another key reason for the rising number of people registering as donors are the changing religious beliefs. After the invention of organ transplant systems in the 20th century, most religions opposed the practice, arguing that it violated God's purpose and sole role in life sustenance. For instance, Judaism still maintains that organ donation is evil because it involves death, as Halachic (Krupic et al., 2017) defines. In the Islamic religion, there was widespread resentment toward the practice. Some Christian denominations also opposed organ donations, terming them unholy and a form of interference with God's supreme nature. Such trends led to low turnouts for individuals willing to donate their organs. However, these perceptions started changing in the 20th century, with religions becoming open to discussions on the issue. For instance, over the past decade, Muslim scholars and councils have held various meetings on the issue. In the end, most of the Sharia Councils now hold that organ donation is a holy practice because it involves the saving of lives. Therefore, the religion currently recommends its followers participate in donations (Krupic et al., 2017). In Christianity, most denominations believe that an organ donation is an act of love; hence followers must uphold it. The changing perceptions and widespread acceptance of organ donation among various religions have increased the number of people registering as donors.
However, the increasing number of donations can result in detrimental and beneficial consequences. The main effect of the widespread increase in organ donations is the susceptibility of individuals to coercion and pressure to donate. With organ donation becoming a widely accepted norm in most societies, there are higher chances that criminals could use the opportunity to coerce citizens into donating their organs (Lewis et al., 2020). For instance, instilling fear among older adults to benefit from their donated organs can easily become a new criminal activity across the world. In this case, criminals could start using the high acceptance of organ donations to push people into donating their organs for personal gains. For instance, organized crime activities between private facilities and criminals could lead to the loss of numerous lives as individuals struggle to benefit from the widespread acceptance of organ donation illegally.
Another effect of the increasing number of people willing to participate in organ donations is an increase in unhealthy living. With the knowledge that most organs are available, some individuals could result in living unhealthy lifestyles. For instance, people could become more alcoholic as they can easily acquire the readily available organs like the liver to replace their failing ones. There are no limitations on people who can benefit from donated organs (Sayedalamin et al., 2017). The current state implies that people who destroy their organs can easily replace them from donation centers. In the end, this could have a negative implication on health systems globally. Instead of upholding healthy living, people are more likely to become insensitive to their health decisions due to the perception that they can easily access and replace any failing organs within their bodies.
The increasing number of donations could also have positive effects on society. For instance, with donations, countries will be more resilient to emerging diseases like cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases. In this case, the sick can undergo transplants at lower or no costs, thus improving the general population's health (Ríos et al., 2017). With the growing number of people donating their organs, eventually, there will be sufficient organs for a replacement for people with critical conditions. Consequently, this will improve the quality of care by reducing mortality rates of some diseases.
The current state could also create mistrust between patients and doctors. After registering as donors, most people could live under the fear that doctors are more likely to neglect them when sickly. In this case, the main issue of concern is that registered donors would feel that doctors only want to harvest their organs after their death; hence poor-quality care would be provided (Lewis et al., 2020). Medics and the government must address this concern to ensure that people continue registering as donors to save lives.
Conclusively, the primary trend in organ donation is the growing number of people registering as donors over the last decade. The leading cause of this positive trend is increased education and awareness on the importance of donating organs. Moral convictions have also contributed to the growing number of people registering as organ donors. The elimination of the existing barriers like religion has also contributed to the increasing number of donor numbers. In this case, most religions have accepted organ donations, thus prompting their followers to become active donors. The main effect of this trend is that it could create an avenue for crime, as people start coercing others to donate their organs for illegal benefits. The trend could also lower the quality of care, as facilities start focusing on organ harvesting rather than providing quality care to patients.
References
Arshad, A. et al. (2019). Comparison of organ donation and transplantation rates between opt-out and opt-in systems. Kidney International , 95 (6), 1453-1460.
Krupic, F. et al. (2017). The impact of knowledge and religion on organ donation as seen by immigrants in Sweden. Scandinavian journal of caring sciences , 31 (4), 687-694.
Lewis, A. et al. (2020). Organ donation in the US and Europe: The supply vs demand imbalance. Transplantation Reviews , 100585.
Ríos, A. et al. (2017). The attitude of Latin American immigrants in Florida (USA) towards deceased organ donation–a cross section cohort study. Transplant international , 30 (10), 1020-1031.
Sayedalamin, Z. et al. (2017). Awareness and attitudes towards organ donation among medical students at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. J Pak Med Assoc , 67 , 1-64.
