To Donate or Not to Donate: What is Organ Donation? by Kareena Cooper
- cellfiemagazine
- May 8, 2021
- 3 min read
Welcome to all of our loyal readers out there. It has been lovely to see your continued support for all of our ventures and to hear so much feedback about how you have enjoyed our recent blog posts. Today, Kareena is enlightening us to such a vital medical topic, both in terms of ethics and practicality. Thank you, Kareena, and we hope you enjoy it.
From stone-age herbal remedies to contemporary prosthetic limbs, medicine has really progressed over time. Doctors are now armed with to the teeth with phenomenal mand-made defences to protect our bodies from all kinds of threats. However, there can be cases that only nature itself can fix.
Medically, we are very lucky to be living in today’s world; contemporary technology has saved millions, but we must remember that almost no artificial replacements for an organic process will be as effective as the authentic component. This is where organ donation comes in.
The human body is astoundingly clever, but things can easily go wrong. Sometimes, when certain organs in the body are no longer functioning and are beyond repair, a replacement is needed. Evolution and nature have carefully crafted human organs for their specific and vital purposes. Artificial components may be able to mimic their roles very well, but are not nearly as a effective as their organic counterparts.
Donating a heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas, or intestines can save lives. There is always a risk of the body recognising the organ as foreign and trigger a damaging autoimmune response. Nevertheless, organ donation does save lives. As of 2017, 50,300 people were alive due to the generous donation of organs. Donation is vital as the lists of people who require organ donation increases and the number of organ donors stays at a small, steady number. Even if a person requires a new organ it can be a tricky battle to be given something as precious as an organ when donations are so scarce. Currently, 4205 people are waiting for a transplant.
The NHS revolves around seven major values including the fact that everyone counts. The NHS simply cannot eliminate discrimination on grounds of ethnicity if it does not have organs from a wide range of ethnicities. A patient is more likely to benefit from a transplant from someone of their own ethnicities, therefore donation from people of all ethnicities is vital in order to help everyone. People’s faith and culture can also be taken into account in order to ensure that organ donation is inclusive and respectful.
Discussions around organ donation are more important than ever as the laws around it have recently changed. In May 2020, the law was changed to an opt-out system where all adults who live in the UK are automatically considered as organ donors after death, unless they have expressed a wish not to donate. People still have a choice, but this system will help to save countless lives. Every day someone dies waiting for a transplant, so this new system will help.
It is important to discuss organ donation with those around you in order to create certainty around any choices they may have to make for you. It is vital that people make a choice that they are comfortable through the NHS organ donation website. Even under 18-year-olds can register their decision.
Giving someone another chance at life is extraordinary. Whether the donor is living or dead it is an honourable action. Whatever people decide, it is important that they come to a decision that they are happy with. After all, it is their body and their organs. The most important thing is starting up conversation with people around you. Your decision matters.
By Kareena Cooper.
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