Everyday,
there are a lot of people needing an organ transplant because their organs
either works poorly or already failing. Organ donation is a surgical procedure
of removing an organ or tissue from the organ donor and placing it into the
recipient’s body. It is one of the great advances in medical field and the
organs that can be donated includes the liver, kidney, pancreas, and heart. In
2017, according to World Health Organization (WHO), deaths due to different end
– stage organ diseases involved 230,000 Filipinos and this diseases can be
prevented by organ transplantation. However, the need for an organ donor is way
greater than those who actually donate. It was way back before that this
subject is being studied and in 1954 at Peter Brent Brigham Hospital in Boston,
Joseph Murray and his colleagues performed the first truly successful kidney
transplant from one twin to another. It was believed that they Kidney is the
first human organ that was transplanted from one person to another
successfully. In organ transplant there are so many things to consider and
these are the effects to both donors and recipients and the law and the issues
that arises regarding this surgical procedure.
Organ
transplant is worldwide acceptable because of its effectivity to the recipient.
It improves the survival rates and it enhances the quality of life of a sick
person that’s why doctors and their clients with organ failure are encourage to
undergo the procedure of transplantation. Organ transplants bring various
benefits to the recipient and this are living a longer and healthier or less
painful life because there failed organs will be remove and will be replace to
a more functional one and with that their life
will not be endanger anymore. The recipient will also spend their time
less in the hospital and will only be needing fewer surgeries and medications
because they finally have a functional and healthy organ that will bring
wellness to their health. However, this procedure poses at risk to the
recipients because sometimes their body rejects the organ that was transferred
to them because the client’s immune system detects that the organs antigens
that was being replaced to them doesn’t not matched to theirs and it is the
reason why it triggers blood transfusion reaction. The client might also
experience post – surgical complication such as infection because of anti –
rejection and other transplant – related drugs that are being prescribed to
them to take after their surgery.
Organ Transplant is
allowable here in the Philippines following the Republic Act No. 349 an act to
legalize permissions to use human organs or any portion or portions of the
human body for medical, surgical, or scientific purposes, under certain
conditions and more recently a Republic Act No. 7170 known as the Organ
Donation Act of 1991, as amended by Republic Act No. 7885, organ and tissue
donations from donors who have been declared brain dead has been allowed. It
proves that living and brain dead person can donate their organs so that they
can help save and improve the quality of life of those sick clients who are in
need for transplantation. However, even if this procedure is already accepted
there are some ethical dilemmas that could arise and these are violating the
non – maleficence to the donor and the illegal selling of organs because of
financial incapability. One of the vows that doctors promised and also included
in Hippocratic Oath is to follow the principle of non – maleficence or do no
harm to the people. In organ transplant, this principle might be violated
because of the potential harm that it can inflict to the donor that includes
the short and long term health risks of the surgical procedure, organ function,
and psychological problems like depression and anxiety. And because of the
prevalent mentioning of organ transplantation, Filipinos found a way to earn
for a living and that is through illegally selling their organs to those
client’s in need just to have money that could help them to their everyday
needs. They took the advantage of low number of organ donors and made it as
their form of living.
Some people may not
like the idea of organ transplant because they thought that removing one might
impose a great risk to their health. They are too afraid that something bad
might happen to them and that they will not return to their normal functioning
since their organ has been removed. But this perception should be eliminated
because organ transplant can actually save lives of other people who are now
terminally ill. Organ transplant should be allowed here in the Philippines
because a single donor can actually save eight lives and can improve up to
fifty lives. We should consider organ donation and supports Department of
Health campaign called “Dugtong Buhay:
Ako, Kabahagi Mo!” to prove that the unity or bayanihan spirit still exists here in the Philippines. We should
help those people who are in need for organ transplant because it opens a lot
of opportunities to them when they starts to feel fine. The feeling of
rewarding to help other people is very overwhelming because you know to
yourself that you are brave enough to donate your organ that many people are
afraid to do so. Donating an organ is a noble and altruistic act because you
are actually saving a life of a person.
REFERENCES:
- Organ Donation and Transplantation. (2016). Retrieved from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11750-organ-donation-and-transplantation
- DOH pushes for organ donation from brain dead persons. (2018). Retrieved from https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1012467
- Villines, Z. (2019). How organ transplants work. Retrieved from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325631.php
- Kidney Transplantation: Past, Present, and Future. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://web.stanford.edu/dept/HPST/transplant/html/history.html
- Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. (2010). Success rates for organ transplants are increasing, but organ donations are decreasing, study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322092051.htm
- Republic Act No. 349. (n.d.). Retrieved
from http://www.chanrobles.com/republicacts/republicactno349.html
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