In the U.S. For instance, Abuona (2003) indicated that the very first criterion is the donor's geographic location as compared to that of the recipient followed by the histocompatibility matching and blood group compatibility. The third criterion is a point system that each of the waiting-list patients accumulate in regard to the following variables; waiting time, medical urgency, as well as the age of the patient. This allocation technique is highly flawed. This is because in case of kidney as well as other organs that have to be transported to the place where the recipient is located, the long hours of transportation may cause a lot of damage to the organs as a consequence of the ischemic reperfusion injury that occurs as a result of long hours of organ transportation. At the same time, should the organ arrive to the intended destination but from a marginal donor, then it might not be useful since most healthcare facilities have no experience in organs from marginal donors.In this system pediatric patients having less than eleven year of age are awarded higher points. The suitable method to use for the case of marginal organs so that the process is medically acceptable and ethically sound is to transplant the organs in the shortest time possible in their closes location or to send them to special centers that accept marginal donors. This proposal was also confirmed by the work of Matas and Delmonico (2001).
Death certification
Prior to removing organs from potential donor and before any request are forwarded to their families, it is necessary for the patients to be declared 'brain dead' by medical doctors. Cardiorespiratory death alone is not sufficient. In many parts of the world, the newly accepted concept of death is 'brain death' (Norton,1992).It is therefore appropriate for the donor's death to be satisfied by a doctor who is not involved in the transplantation prior to organ extraction.
Organ transplantation sourced from living donors
The main ethical issue in the living donor organ transplant is where the donation should be directed or anonymous. A directed donation may be seen as unethical since it may loead to some recipients 'jumping' to the top of the...
In this practice, the poor are duped into selling their organs such as kidneys to have them transplanted to the wealthy clients.
Conclusion
Issues of organ transplant such as ethics in receiving of organ transplants from cadavers, methods of allocating cadaver organs, death certification, uses of organs extracted from fetuses, organ transplantation sourced from living donors, organ sales for transplantation, the use of organ transplants from executed prisoners, the acceptance of financial incentives as a result of organ donations, the use of stem cells as well as cloning in the process of transplantations as well as the use of animal organs as well as xenotransplantations must be addressed in order for the practice to be moral and medically acceptable. These will ensure that we have sustainable organ transplant programs that are free from all kinds of ethical concerns
References
Abuona, GM (2003).Ethical Issues in Organ Transplantation. Med Princ Pract 2003;12:54 -- 69
Arthur L. Caplan, AL., Coelho, DH (Eds.). (1998). The Ethics of Organ Transplants: The Current Debate
Center for Bioethics (2004). Ethics of Organ Transplantation
http://www.ahc.umn.edu/img/assets/26104/Organ_Transplantation.pdf
Matas AJ, Delmonico FL: Transplant kidneys sooner: Discard fewer kidneys. Am J. Transplant
2001;1:301 -- 304.
Norton DL: Clinical application of brain death protocol. J Neurosci Nurs 1992;24:354 -- 358.
Pattinson, SD (2003)'Paying Living Organ Providers', 3 Web JCLI
http://webjcli.ncl.ac.uk/2003/issue3/pattinson3.html
Stein, R (2004). New perspectives on environmental justice: gender, sexuality, and activism. Rutgers University Press
United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) (June,2001):Policy of Organ Distribution.
