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Surgical Transplant

Ethical Issues Surrounding Transplantation



The primary ethical issue associated with transplanted is the extreme shortage of available donors. Nearly 20,000 people die in the United States each year who would have been suitable organ donors. But only about 3,000 of these organs are ever donated and harvested. Questions surrounding the limited supply of donor organs include who should get the donor. For example, should the organ go to someone who is poor and on welfare or someone who can afford to pay for the operation. There is also concern over buying organs from people before they have died or from their families after the person has died. Some organs, like kidneys, corneas, bones, and bone marrow could even be bought and removed before death since they would not fatally harm the donor if removed.



Another ethical issue surrounding transplantation is the high costs associated with obtaining and transplanting an organ. Some transplant procedures can cost more than $200,000. Since most people cannot afford such operations, the burden falls on society in the form of higher insurance premiums and government subsidies. Even after the surgery is over, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars each year to keep the person alive because of the high cost of antirejection drugs.

Despite the difficulty of obtaining organs, the high costs, and the many ethical concerns, transplantation will continue to thrive since it is the only hope for many terminally ill patients. Society's mandate is to develop ethical regulations to ensure that growing demands are met fairly and humanely.

Resources

Books

Gutkind, L. Many Sleepless Nights. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press, 1990.

Keyes, C.D. New Harvest: Transplanting Body Parts and Reaping the Benefits. Clifton, NJ: Humana Press, 1991.

Periodicals

Fox, Mark D. "The Transplantation Success Story." Journal of the American Medical Association (December 7, 1994): 1704.

"National Registry Creation Helps Assess Donor Risk." Transplant & Tissue Weekly (June 4, 2000).

Pace, Brian. "Suppressing the Immune System for Organ Transplants." JAMA 283 no. 18 (May 10, 2000): 2484.

Starzl, T.E. "The Early Days of Transplantation." Journal of the American Medical Association (December 7, 1994): 1705.

White, D., and J. Wallork. "Xenografting: Probability, Possibility, or Pipe Dream?" The Lancet (October 9, 1993): 879-880.

Other

Current Science and Technology Center. "Robotic Surgery" [cited April 2003]. <http://www.mos.org/cst/article/1623/>.


David Petechuk

KEY TERMS

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Allografts

—Tissues and organs used for transplantation that come from donors of the same species.

Autografts

—Tissues and organs used for transplantation that come from the patients themselves.

Bone marrow

—A spongy tissue located in the hollow centers of certain bones, such as the skull and hip bones. Bone marrow is the site of blood cell generation.

Graft

—Bone, skin, or other tissue that is taken from one place on the body (or, in some cases, from another body), and then transplanted to another place where it begins to grow again.

Immunocompromised

—A condition in which the immune system suppressed so that it is not functioning completely.

Immunosuppressant

—Something used to reduce the immune system's ability to function, like certain drugs or radiation.

Lymphocytes

—White blood cells that play a role in the functioning of the immune system.

Vascular anastomosis

—A technique for reconnecting blood vessels.

Xenografts

—Tissues and organs used for transplantation that come from different animal species, like pigs or baboons.

Additional topics

Science EncyclopediaScience & Philosophy: Toxicology - Toxicology In Practice to TwinsSurgical Transplant - The History Of Transplants, Transplantation And The Immune System, Types Of Transplants, Donor Organ And Tissue Networks