ORGAN TRANSPLANTATION & ETHICAL ISSUES
Organ transplantation, one of the most sophisticated and expensive treatments in modern medicine, considers human values to be just as important as the treatment (Manzetti, Ankeny, & Miller, 1997, p. 389). This research paper investigates ethical issues involved in organ transplantation with a review of human rights, examples of specific issues, and recent ethical concerns.
Organ transplantation includes the rights of all the people involved. It involves the donation of organs and identifies the appropriate recipient; ethical issues are factors for patients, families, health care providers, legislators, and the public. Since the 1990s there has been an open forum for debate regarding ethical issues in health care; ethical issues have always been a subject of debate in organ transplantation due to the unique exchange that occurs. The issue involves the public because people must donate their organs or tissues for treatment to be possible (DePalma & Townsend, 1996, pp. 1-2).
Organ transplantation can be viewed as a process with two phases that are separate but interdependent, donation and allocation. Ethically and legally, mandated separations need to occur to protect the rights of the donor. The health care provider who approaches the potential donor or family must not be members of the transplantation team to prevent coercion for donation of organs. Any action viewed as ethically questionable in one phase of the process will affect the success of the other phase. Imbalances in the system include a lack of sufficient number of organs, ethical dilemmas in clinical situations, and policies affecting the entire public (DePalma & Townsend, p. 2).
The gap between those needing a transplant and numbers of available organs is increasing. In 1993, the waiting list for solid organ transplants in the United States had over 32,000 registrations; by 1995 there were 39,082 registered o...