FREE ESSAY ON ORGAN DONATION

ORGAN DONATION

Organ Donation: Why Become a Donor?
According to the American Medical Association (AMA) there are more than 55,000 people in
the United States waiting for life-saving organs. More than 4,000 people will die this
year alone waiting for an organ transplant. These statistics can easily be avoided by
becoming an organ donor. The problem is that not enough people are becoming organ donors
and even if they want to they are not making their decision known to family or friends.
Donating vital organs, without a doubt, saves numerous lives. The number of organ
transplants performed in 1994 reached and all time high while the number of organ donors
remained the same (Perry). This is evidence that the need for organ donors is on the
rise. 
Organ donation is one way for anyone to help save lives of others. It is something that
does not take a lot of effort. Here are a few simple steps to becoming an organ donor:
sign an organ donor card, have a relative sign the card, keep the card in your wallet,
make your wishes known to your family members, and discuss your views with your family
physician. These are all ways to ensure that your wishes to become an organ donor will be
met. Approximately 93% of family members said that they would donate a deceased's organs
if they knew that was what the deceased would have wanted (Perry). These numbers are
astonishing and prove, without a doubt, that making your wishes known is key in organ
donation. 
There are many myths that are associated with organ donation. One myth is that if you
choose to be a donor every effort to save your life will not be made. This is untrue
because organ donation is not something that is discussed until after the doctor has
signed a death certificate. Another myth is that donors are taken off life-support in
order to reap their organs. This is also untrue. A doctor takes the life support off even
if they are brain dead and have no chance for recovery. If they are organ donors the life
support machines are only kept on long enough to recover the organs. The largest myth of
all is that religion prohibits organ sharing. Only Orthodox Judaism opposes organ
donation and attitudes are even changing in that community. Another concern is that
families cannot have a proper open casket funeral, which is not true. Doctors perform the
operations with the utmost care and concern as they would with any other patient of
surgery. So the facts still remain to be that there is without a doubt too few organ
donors and no evidence of a reason not to become and organ donor. 
The facts remain that there are not enough donors as there are those waiting for
transplants. If people decided to make their wishes known about becoming organ donors
then lives would be saved. It is one problem that each of us can have a part in changing.
People die waiting for organ donors while potential organ donor's families have no idea
what their loved one would have wanted. An easy way to solve this life or death problem
is to become an organ donor and share those wishes with your family.
Bibliography 
American Liver Foundation (1998, May 12). Web extension to Many Families Say No to Organ
Donation. [WWW Document]. URL http://sadieo.uesf.edu/
American Medical Association (1998, April 28). Web extension to AMA. [WWW Document]. URL
http://www.ama-assn.org/
Donation Facts (1998, May 2). Web extension to The Critical Need for Donation. [WWW
Document]. URL http://www.dnaz.org/
Perry, Patrick (1995) The Greatest Gift: Organ Donation. Sunday Evening Post, 267,1,38