United States Support Organ Donation

How would you feel if you picked up the phone to hear your mom saying through tears “the doctor said I need a heart.” More than 114,000 men, women, and children are on the national transplant waiting list as of August 2017 (organdonor.org). Ninety-five percent of adults in the United States support organ donation yet only 54% are signed up as donors. One donor has the opportunity to save up to eight lives. There are 8 lifesaving organs that can be donated including heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys, and intestines.

The organ waiting list continues to grow daily. Although, about 80 people receive organ transplants daily, it’s estimated 20 people die each day waiting for a transplant, another person is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes. Only three out of every thousand people die in a way that allows for organ donation.In the United States 100,000 people are waiting for a kidney donation, 14,000 people awaiting a liver, and 4,000 people waiting for a heart. While a cornea donor can restore sight to two people 1,400 adults and children are awaiting new lungs.

Becoming a donor is easy. You can sign up with your states donor registry or fill out an organ donor card when you get or renew your drivers license (webmd.com). Anyone is able to become an organ donor, but a parent or guardian must consent for minors. One person can change the lives of more than seventy-five people by registering to become an organ, eye, and tissue donor.

When you donate an organ you are saving a life. The life you save could be your spouse, child, parent, brother or sister, a close friend, or a very grateful stranger. Live donors are able to give up certain organs, as in a kidney, part of the pancreas, intestine, liver or lung, in part or while without having long-term health issues. There are different types of living donations: directed donation, non-directed, and paired donation.

Living donation is major surgery so there will be risks. Pain, infection and blood clots are all possible complications. The most common type of living donation is directed, the donor specifies to whom they are donating. Twenty-five percent of living donors aren’t biologically related to the recipient(donatelife.org). It is rewarding to donate organs, however, it is illegal to pay someone for an organ.

There are myths associated with organ donation. For example, some think no one will want their organs or tissues because of their age or poor health. Not very many therapeutic conditions consequently exclude you from giving organs. The decision to utilize an organ depends on strict medicinal criteria. Specific organs may not be appropriate for transportation, but different organs and tissue may be fine. When considering donation health is more important than age. The transplant surgeon assessed organs and chooses whether or not they are reasonable on a case-by-case premise.

Other people believe the hospital staff won’t work as hard to save their life if they become a donor. In fact, during treatment, you will be seen by a specialist whose forte nearly coordinates your specific condition, where specialists center around sparing your life. It’s often said donors aren’t allowed an open-casket funeral. The donors body is garments for burial, so there is no unmistakable indications of organ or tissue donation which allows no interference with an open-coffin burial service.

Very few medical condition disqualify you from donating your organs. A disease in one organ does not preclude other organs from being donated (nebraskamed.com). Only few conditions would absolutely prevent a person from becoming a donor-such as active cancer or systemic infection(organdonor.gov).

Organ donation can be a fulfilling and positive experience. It can enable a family to work through the grieving process and deal with their loss by realizing their adored one is helping save the lives of others. Many donor families take encouragement in realizing their adored one helped spare different lives.

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