Organ Donation: Not Always Beneficial Organ donation can be very beneficial, but sometimes, it does not always work. For example, “Four transplant recipients in Chicago have contracted H.I.V. from an organ donor” (Grady). As this story exemplifies, before people consider becoming organ and tissue donors, they must consider the consequences. Tissue and organ donation can be done either by a living donor or a deceased donor. If the donor is deceased, then the doctor’s either have to get consent from the donor’s family, or they might have a donor card that states that the patient wanted to have their organs donated. People must consider the following consequences before deciding whether or not they should become donors: the potential …show more content…
For example, donation is beneficial because it helps saves and enhances other people’s lives. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,“You may save up to 8 lives through organ donation and enhance many others through tissue donation” (“Home”). Although this may be true, people should be more concerned about the possible harmful effects of organ and tissue donation. Medical complications are common and can be harmful and possibly even life threatening. One example of this is from the article “The Informed Patient: A Downside of Organ Donation,” author Laura Landro reports that “Within three months of his kidney transplant last March at New York Presbyterian Hospital, Peter C. Platt was rehospitalized [sic] with serious infections that did not respond to treatment. The culprit: strongyloides, an intestinal parasite that had been found in the donated organ. He died on July 15, surrounded by his grieving family” (D.1). In this scenario, the parasite that was transferred from the donor to the organ recipient ended up killing the recipient. Even though a lot of transplantations are successful, there are also many situations that are similar to this example. Organ recipients can never be entirely sure that the donations are completely …show more content…
During the transplant process, there are many medical expenses that are not covered, and “these expenses include travel, parking, accommodation, meal and dependent care costs, as well as lost income” (Sickland et al. 2825). When the organ donor and family members arrive at the hospital for the transplant, they have many expenses they have to cover on their own because “the U.S. organ and tissue regulatory agency does not allow donors to receive or accept monetary contributions for organ donation” (Francis). Even though the surgery itself is covered, the family has to pay for a place to stay if they are not close to home, parking, and travel. Also, once the donor or the person receiving the transplant is out of surgery, time spent working will be lost because time is needed in order to fully recover; this results in lost wages. When people consider becoming an organ donor, they must also consider that they might have to pay for some expenses, and for some people, they cannot afford