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Mateo Cuevas
Writing 39C
Erin McNellis
April 15, 2014
Medical Problem
The world of medicine is constantly changing. There are new technological advances
every year that make practices used a decade ago seem obsolete or impractical. One medical
issue that needs a big improvement is organ donations. Organ donations are a big deal because,
through the numbers gathered by the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, (OPTN)
there are currently 112,220 candidates on the waiting list as of April 15, 2014; while the number
of donors, starting this year January 2014 up to April 11, 2014, the number of donors has only
been 1,209. (OPTN: Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network). These numbers clearly
show that the number of donors here in the U.S. do not meet the demand of those in need of
organs. The number of people who need organs will continuously rise and we cannot control that
number; and the number of donors will not increase fast enough to keep up with those in need of
organs. The U.S. has a problem trying to accommodate all the people who are in need of organ
donations, and the people who are able to help are not doing all they can in order to solve this
problem.
Organ donations are vital to our society. More people are added to the organ waiting list
every day and the chances of them living decrease every minute that they are not able to receive
their transplant. One big issue that was very controversial in organ donation is LDOT (living-
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organ donation transplantation). In the medical journal Organ Donation Is Not Mutilation: The
History of an Erroneous Idea, Rev. Anthony Stoeppel and Rev. Pablo Requena, MD, argued
that through history organ donation was seen as a mutilation because there was no medical
reason to take a good organ from a healthy person. This idea was carried out for many years and
few challenged it. Through research and though the succession of kidney transplants it began to
be seen that not every mutilation is wrong (Requena, Steoppel 433). This problem has been
around for a long time and trying to decide whether we think LDOT is moral or not over the
years has cost people lives. People who were uneducated about organ donation were easily
confused and did not know whether an organ donation was mutilation or not. Organ donation is a
current problem and we are working to solve it but there are always more problems that arise
from some type of solution. For example we have extended criteria donors or ECD. These
donors have valuable organs that many people may use, however the standards that we have for
organ transplantation exceed what doctors feel that these organs can offer and as a result, the
US, for example, between 2001 and 2003, some 1200 ECD kidneys, 500 livers, and 250 hearts
were discarded (Transplantation Proceedings 35). Although some may argue that the reason for
not using these organs are for safety precautions, these are still organs that can be used and that
are capable of helping someone else improve or save their lives. Having a chance to live from
and ECD organ is much better than dying because a person was not given a chance. Organ
donors must be healthy and their organs must meet the criteria in order for doctors to feel
comfortable to transplant them into people. The organ donors must not be ill and preferable be
young organ donors in order for doctors to decide that they are sufficient and worth risking for a
patient.
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Another main problem with organ donation shortage is caused by peoples decision to
make the donation or not. They fear for complications or that something will go wrong and that
they could possible die?. These fears are what contribute to peoples choice not to donate. This
claim is also supported by Wojciech Baginski, who wrote an article in the American journal of
Law & Medicine for the Boston University School of Law, where he discussed similar reasons
and points out that through his research he found numerous people who did not donate for fears
complications. They refused to consent to transplantation because of a chance that their lives
would be in danger and as a result numerous donations were lost. (Baginski 563). Because of this
reason and fears many possible organ donations were lost and several people who could have
been saved did not receive a transplant from these potential donors. This is one of the largest
negative influences towards organ donations. The decision to become an organ donor does not
come so easily. There is a deeper level, which has been heavily studied, to support that there is a
larger frame work on the decision to be an organ donor that lies at a physiological level. The
research done at this level also proves that those who are more educated and think well of the
process, in other words being well informed and knowing the possible outcomes, and the
succession rate of the operations, contributes largely to their decision to become donors
(Nijkamp et al 20). Studying how people make their choice to be an organ donor at this level is
very important. Figuring out what causes people to think the way they do will help pin point the
main problems when it comes to organ donors, and once those specific problems that lie in the
physiological level are found a solution can begin to be found for this psychological problem.
There are several other issues that influence the relatively small number of organ
donations, compared to the number of patients who need one. There is a large argument that is a
clear issue today, and that argument consists of morals. Is taking the organ of a person who is
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dead morally acceptable? Deciding whether a person is capable to make a decision for
themselves to become an organ donor on their own is debatable depending on the condition of
the patient. What becomes even more controversial is leaving an organ donation choice of a
person who is incapable to deciding for themselves, to someone else. The border line that
decides whether a person is capable to decide organ donation for themselves or that it should be
left to someone else is very thin. The current American system of cadaveric organ procurement
includes the default assumption that individuals prefer not to donate their organs for
transplantation after their death (Gill 37). The decision of whether to donate someone elses
organs should not be left to just anybody. The consent of the possible organ donor is clearly
important and this quote helps explain why so many organs are lost. The people who can
contribute them did not choose whether to donate or not, so the default is that doctors assume
they did not want to donate. Doctors cannot simply hand over a decision like this to anyone, it
should have been the patients choice to donate or not. However if the patient never got the
chance to decide for themselves the automatic decision is that they did not want to donate and
therefore the opportunity to save the lives of many people is lost instantly.






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Works Cited DID NOT USE ALL THE SOURCES!!!!!!! CHECK THEM
Abouna, George M. Transplantation Proceedings. Organ Shortage Crisis: Problems and
Possible Solutions.Volume 40, issue 1, January-February 2008.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.transproceed.2007.11.067. Pages 34-38. Web. April 3, 2014.
George M. Abouna from Drexel University, College of Medicine in Pennsylvania argues
the relevance that organ shortages we have today and also offers possible solutions to
help obtain more donors and minimize the number of those on the waiting list. Abouna
published his text on this topic in a popular magazine hoping to get his information out.
George M. Abouna utilizes statistics over several years, as well as research which he used
to break down the problem in a simpler form that would make it easier to follow. It is
relates to my topic because it shows the true numbers and history of this organ shortage
problem that have been around for a while. Not only that but it also shows a problem that
contributed to the small number of organ donors.
Gill, Michael B. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. Presumed Consent, Autonomy, and
Organ Donation. 2004 Vol. 29, No. 1. Page 37-59.
http://jmp.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/1/37.full.pdf. Web. April 16, 2014
Nijkamp, Marjan D, et al. Health Psychology Review. To be(come) or not to be(come) and
organ donor, thats the question: a meta-analysis of determinant and intervention studies.
Vol. 2, No 1. 1, March 2008, 20-40.
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=77f0ea86-babb-43d6-be64-
9e94577e9af3%40sessionmgr111&vid=5&hid=123. Web. April 16, 2014

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Requena, Pablo, and Stoeppel, Anthony. Organ Donation Is Not Mutilation. The History of an
Erroneous Idea. September 1, 2013.
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=e39f03bb-7b75-4dad-a2e6-
8337444eae87%40sessionmgr198&vid=7&hid=125. Web. Pages 427-436 March 2,
2014.
Rev. Anthony Stoeppel, and Rev. Pablo Requena, Md, explain the view of Living-organ
donor transplantation and its history going from unacceptable mutilation, to a life-saving
process. They present their argument in a medical journal format from which this
particular article was taken from and use a formal tone. They use extensive research that
was conducted by various experts as well as their own research and observations that
extended over dozens of years before they come to their conclusion. They want to inform
an academic audience of the problems with organ donations that once existed in the past.
Although it seemed like this issue was resolved there was not an extreme increase in the
number of donors of organs. This meant that there are other things apart from this
problem that also contributed and continue to contribute to the shortage problem.
"Transplant Rejection: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia." U.S National Library of Medicine.
U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2014.
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000815.htm.
Uniting People and Information to Help save Lives." OPTN: Organ Procurement and Transplantation
Network. http://optn.transplant.hrsa.gov/. Web. 13 Apr. 2014
Sims, Sterling. Penn Bioethics Journal. A Brief History of Organ Tranplantation.
October 1, 2010. Volume IV, Issue ii.
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http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=85b91674-77ce-4fbc-bb34-
e949637987c9%40sessionmgr112&vid=2&hid=103. Web. April 23, 2014.
Bagneski, Wojciech. American Journal of Law and Medicine. Hasting Death: Dying
Dignity and the Organ Shortage Gap. December 1, 2009. Issue 35 Pages 562-584.
http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=0237dc16-7884-4c78-b025-
da2d3c6e20ee%40sessionmgr4003&vid=9&hid=4209. Web. April 22, 2014
"Ethical Controversies in Organ Donation After Circulatory Death." Pediatrics.
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/5/1021.full#ref-19. Web. April 21,
2014.
Saving More lives: Organ Donation After Cardiac Death. Life Gift.
http://www.lifegift.org/resources/files/DonationAfterCardiacDeathBrochure.pdf. Pdf. April 21,
2014
Health System Joins HAPs Donate Life Hospital Campaign. Penn Medicine. August 6,
2013. http://www.cchosp.com/cchpage.asp?p=2029. Web. April 21, 2014
Cenevivas, Nick. "The Shortage of Donor Organs." Nick Cenevivas Technical Writing Blog.
http://sites.psu.edu/nickceneviva202cblog/2013/09/18/the-shortage-of-donor-organs/. Web.
April 22 2014.
Cutleer, J.A, Englesbe. M.J, et al. Improving Organ Procurement Travel Practices in the United
States: Proceedings from the Michigan Donor Travel Forum. The American Journal of
Tranplantation. March 1, 2010. Volume 10. Issue 3, Pages 458-463.
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http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=eaaa5b8e-6d97-409a-a5b1-
69847cdd5e74%40sessionmgr115&vid=10&hid=122. Web. April 24, 2014.
This source contributes insights on the subject of organ transportation practices, as well
as care of the organs while they are being handled. Several experts and well qualified
individuals who are from the department of surgery from various universities, a few
including: The University of Michigan and The University of Massachusetts. Along with
the research conducted on the transportation methods of varies hospitals this source also
includes a large graph that shows, in a simplified version, the findings for transportation
failures and therefore why they are important. This is relevant to my research because it
adds to the reason why there are people who are not receiving their transplants, and so
this issue is just adding to the shortage of organs.
Organ Donor Crises WPTZ NewsChannel 5. Nov 13, 2013.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZRy3LoNPns. Video. April 19, 2014.
This source is a video from YouTube. Even though this video is from YouTube, it was uploaded
by a local newstation, WPTZ Newschannel 5. In the video a mother and her young boy are
shown in a hopstial. The boy is in need of a lung transplant. He is lucky, after a long period of
wait, to receive a transplant. The transplant fails after a few years and he goes back on the waitin
list. This short video is a good example of what it is like to be in need of a transplant. It shows
the options that are available and also the realities that cannot be changed. Because of the
shortage of donors the boy did not make it the second time he needed a transplant. It is very
relevant to this paper because is also just happened last year. This organ shortage problem is very
current and is not slowing down.
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) Underneath the MLA Works Cited entry for your two most promising sources, write source evaluations of
the type described in AGWR 77 - 79. These should be, at minimum, a substantial paragraph for each,
explaining why you feel you can trust the source, what kinds of information the source provides, and why
the source is relevant to your argument.
Gastaca, M. Extended Criteria Donors in Liver Transplantation: Adapting Donor Quality and
Recipient. Transplant Proceedings. Volume 41. Issue 2, April 2009. Pages 975-979.
http://ucelinks.cdlib.org:8888/sfx_local?genre=article&issn=00411345&title=Transplantation+P
roceedings&volume=41&issue=3&date=20090401&atitle=Extended+Criteria+Donors+in+Liver
+Transplantation%3a+Adapting+Donor+Quality+and+Recipient.&spage=975&sid=EBSCO:a9h
&pid=. Web. April 25 2014.
Gatascas article was published in a credible medical journal. It is a source that is known and has
been around for a long time. This article discusses the problems that currently exist with ECD
donors. It talks about the much higher risks these donors have for other patients as donors. It is
relevant to my paper, because it falls into place as a social problem. The people that are donating
organs are older people who, according to the standards of doctors, do not meet the criteria to be
good donors. They want to help and are part of a small number of people who are willing to
donate, but not allowing the chance to be taken with the organs from these donors keeps the
number of people on the waiting list for a transplant the same.