Essay Example on Organ Donation: Ensuring Safe Transplants for All

Introduction

Organ transplantation is one of the most sorts of treatments for people experiencing organ failure and is in greatest need despite their financial status. In every state, the organ donation process is majorly regulated by state organizations and different independent non-profit organizations. During the donation process, doctors ensure that the potential donor has numerous points of compatibility, for instance, tissue type, compatible blood group, and other crucial medical details. The donor is always carefully examined physically, undergo through lab test evaluation, and psychological assessments to ascertain that the candidate is healthy and eligible to donate an organ after making an informed decision. However, human organ trafficking has been a global prevalent and profitable illicit trade depending on the poor population as the most considered donors and rich foreigners as the potential recipients. As a result of poor law enforcement and high demand for organ transplants, organ trafficking exposes both the vulnerable population and the potential recipients to dire exploitation and severe health risks.

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Three Major Health Risks of Organ Trafficking To the Donors and Recipients

Three Major Health Risks to the Donors

Traffickers have very low attention on donors' wellbeing. Absence of legal organ transplantation setting, where a collection of qualified health care professionals conducts screening, extensive blood tests, and do both psychological and physical examination may lead to severe health complications (De Las Casas, 2008). Since donors are left to take care of themselves after payments have been done, lack of post-operation care, regular checkups may lead to wound infections, surgical complications, pain, energy loss, and other chronic health issues. Consequently, it leads to health deterioration.

Depression and anxiety are some other health risks an organ donor is most likely to go through. Due to over-exploitation by organ traffickers, organ donors do not enjoy economical benefits from selling their body organs. Fully aware of repercussions of reporting to the authorities having been exploited by these orchestrators, they become unable to file complaints despite having their rights contravened (Gawronska, 2019). Due to constant frustrations arising as a result of exploitation, social stigma, self-shame of selling personal organ, inability to take care of themselves, loss of body organ without economical benefits, relapse into poverty and debts, constant health complications due to lack of post-operation care and regular checkups, organ donors are always at high risk of becoming depressed, suffer from anxiety disorders, and are likely to undergo other mental health problems (Fernandez & Lang, 2014).

For kidney donors, there are associated with long term health risks of donating one of their kidneys. In the normal and legal organ transplantation setting, a group of qualified health care professionals carries out evaluation procedures that involve screening, conducting extensive blood tests, and carrying out both psychological analysis, physical examination and provides post-operation care. All these processes, immense tests, and medical approval are usually intended to determine eligibility to donate, collect donor's health history and correct pre and post-existing health conditions that may be detrimental to their health after the donation (Gawronska, 2019). However, since organ traffickers pay little attention to donor's well being, there are no medical evaluations and immense testing to ensure eligibility to donate, preexisting health conditions and medication. Having donated their kidney and left with one, kidney donors, therefore, are exposed to potential long-term risks such as hypertension, organ impairment, hernia, and ultimately kidney failure (Fernandez & Lang, 2014). All which are accelerated by the lack of proper post-operation health care and medical attention to ensure complete healing after surgery.

Three Major Health Risks to the Recipients

Health risks that organ trafficking recipients are exposed to can range from mild to life-threatening. The recipient who receives transplant goes through a lot of anxiety and depression due to their life-threatening conditions, worries of compatibility of the organ from an unknown individual, potential risks of contracting infectious diseases such as HIV, hepatitis B, fungal infections and Cytomegalovirus (CMV) which may cause weakening of their body immune systems. Another cause of anxiety and depression in the recipient is recovering and readjusting to life from such unapproved transplant that has not been authorized by qualified health care professionals who carry out evaluations procedures involving screening, conducting extensive blood tests, and carrying out both psychological analysis and physical examination to determine organ compatibility.

similarly, another major health risk of organ trafficking to the recipients is the low rate of survival (DePergola, 2018). Due to the illegal nature of the organ transplantation, post-transplant complication treatments become very problematic. Since organ traffickers do not fully consider and apply proper medical approval to the organ they sell to potential recipients, risks associated with the increased level of inferior graft, surgical complications, and wound infections reduce the survival rates of the recipients. In extreme situations, blood clots, infections and surgical complications during or after an organ transplant may cause abrupt cut off of blood flow due to the blockage of coronary arteries. This life-threatening condition where blood flow to the heart muscles is suddenly stopped may lead to acute myocardial infarction and even death of the recipient.

Researchers have established that obtaining organs from organ traffickers endangers the life of potential organ recipient as such organ transplantation exposes them to a greater risk of contracting transmissible infections, such as Cytomegalovirus (CMV), HIV, hepatitis B, and fungal infections (DePergola, 2018). Since organ traffickers do not pay much attention to recommended medical practices such as carrying out evaluation procedures that involve screening, conducting extensive blood tests, organ recipients are always at high risk of contracting transmissible infections from organ donors. As a result, patients may have deterioration of health as they suffer from other health conditions that could be preventable by following legal organ transplantation protocols.

Conclusion

There have been numerous medical developments in human organ transplantation. With increasing health problems, this sector has seen a surge in the number of individuals in need of organs transplant. These medical breakthroughs and the successive public demand for body organ replacements have led to a big problem of supply and demand which has encouraged organ transplants globally. However, this practice has left the life of many vulnerable communities in dire health conditions such as depression and anxiety disorders that result from the shame of exploitation, rejection, health problems, and none existing economical benefits.

Research has also indicated that donors have also suffered greatly from other threatening health conditions such as kidney failures a result donating their organs and they have also become susceptible to other infections due to the inability to have proper post-surgery care. Organs recipients are not an exception to health risks associated with organ trafficking. They are also exposed to dangers such as law survival rates during transplantation due to incompatibility issues. Additionally, they are also at greater risk of depression and anxiety disorders and also from contracting transmissible infections.

References

De Las Casas, R. (2008). Organ trafficking. BMJ, 0809296. https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0809296

Gawronska, S. (2019). Organ trafficking and human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal, two international legal frameworks against illicit organ removal. New Journal Of European Criminal Law, 10(3), 268-286. https://doi.org/10.1177/2032284419862387

DePergola, P. (2018). The Ethical Principle of Vulnerability and the Case Against Human Organ Trafficking. Online Journal Of Health Ethics, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.18785/ojhe.1401.02

Fernandez, J., & Lang, M. (2014). Suicide and Organ Donors: Spillover Effects of Mental Health Insurance Mandates. Health Economics, 24(4), 491-497. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.3037