Organ Donor Shortage
Topic Posted on March 26, 2010 @ 1:33 PM by amras92
Topic:
If UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing) passed a law that stated "Only registered organ donors can receive an organ transplant if they ever needed one," then millions of people would register as organ donors.The organ donor shortage in the United States is horrible and organs keep going to waste. The cause of this problem is that Americans have no incentive to become donors. They are willing to receive an organ if they ever needed one, but not give up their own. You don't need your organs when you die, so why do people keep them?
Why Is It Urgent Now:
"There is a large and growing shortage of transplantable human organs in the United States. Over 107,000 Americans are now on the national waiting list, and about 4,000 more join the list every year. Over 6,000 Americans died waiting for transplant operations last year, according to David J. Undis, from Lifesharers.org.
There are many misconceptions about becoming a registered donor. Some people think doctors don't try as hard to save you in the E.R. when you're an organ donor, which is false. It's a doctor's job to save YOU and most of the time they are not informed if you are a registered donor or not. Some people think it's against their religion, but all major religions support organ donation and if organ donation is against your religion then so is organ receiving. Become an organ donor, because what if you needed an organ or your sister or your daughter did? They would probably die before they ever received one and suffer while their bad organ deteriorated. So please make a difference and register to be an organ donor today.
ProblemSolver Solution
Solution Posted on May 26, 2010 @ 4:44 PM by David Undis (LifeSharers.org)
Plan of Action:
America needs two transplant waiting lists: the ‘A’ list for registered organ donors and the ‘B’ list for people who have not agreed to donate.
There are over 107,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which administers the waiting list and establishes rules for allocating donated organs. More than half of these people will die before they get a transplant.
UNOS should make this announcement: “Just about everyone would accept a transplant if they needed one, but only about 50 percent of Americans have agreed to donate their own organs when they die. So beginning on January 1, 2011, UNOS will establish two waiting lists for transplant recipients. The ‘A’ list will be for people who have been registered organ donors for at least six months and for infants less than six months old who were registered as organ donors at birth. The ‘B’ list will be for everyone else. All organs will be allocated first to people on the ‘A’ list. Organs will be made available to people on the ‘B’ list only if not needed by any registered organ donor.”
In response to this announcement, just about everyone in the United States who was not already a registered organ donor would register. The supply of transplantable organs would go way up, and thousands of lives would be saved every year. Very few people would refuse to donate their organs when they died if they knew it would reduce their chances of getting a transplant should they ever need one to live.
Every year, Americans bury or cremate 20,000 transplantable organs. And every year, over 8,000 Americans die because there aren’t enough organs for everyone who needs one.
Allocating organs first to organ donors will also make the transplant system fairer. “It is a fundamental issue of fairness that people who agree to donate organs should get priority if they need one,” says Steve P. Calandrillo, Professor at the University of Washington Law School. “Thousands of people are dying needlessly every year -- not because life-saving organs don't exist, but because we don't incent people properly to make them available in the first place.”
People who want to donate their organs to other organ donors don’t have to wait for UNOS to change its allocation rules. They can join LifeSharers. LifeSharers members agree to offer their organs first to other members when they die, if any member is a suitable match. Membership is free at www.lifesharers.org or by calling 1-888-ORGAN88. There is no age limit, parents can enroll their minor children, and no one is excluded due to any pre-existing medical condition.
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