Student

In 2005 about 6,500 people died as a result of the shortage of organs (1). That comes out to about eighteen people dying in a single day because there aren't enough organs available for everyone on the U.S. organ transplant waiting list, which has about 92,000 people on the wait. Out of all those people waiting only 28,000 transplants were done in 2005 (1). Obviously, there is a huge difference between the demand and supply of organs for donation in the United States. "Once life has left the body, it should be automatic that whatever organs are useful to others should be harvested and distributed rather than left to rot." I believe that once a person dies, it's selfish to let those organs go to waste when there are thousands of people out there waiting to get an organ so they can live. A dead person doesn't need organs. However, I also believe that permission IS necessary whether it be from the person that just died or from a loved one of the deceased. I think that's just proper. It is still that person's body, and those are still THEIR organs even if they are dead. It would be extremely disrespectful to go against someone's wishes and take something that belongs to them.

For many people, the thought of donating their organs can be a scary one because they don't want to think about dying or they have a lot of preconceived misconceptions about the process. People may think they're too old or too unhealthy to donate their organs. There is no cutoff age for donating organs, and when a person dies only medical professionals can determine whether their organs meet the criteria necessary to donate (2). Others believe organ donation is against their religion, but in fact, organ donation is supported by the beliefs of the largest religions in the United States (2). A lot of people don't know that signing a donor card or a driver's license showing that one wants to be an organ donor does not guarantee that the organs will be donated. Before being able to remove organs, hospitals have to get the family of the deceased to consent (2). I think if a person signs a donor card or has proof on their driver's license that they wanted to be a donor, then it shouldn't be necessary to get the family's consent. Even knowing the person's wishes, some families may just be too scared to say yes because they may not know a lot about organ donation. When a loved one has just died, some families may be too depressed to think about a decision like that and won't consider what the deceased person wanted. Of course, the family should still be informed about everything that is done because that's proper. I think the only time it would be necessary to get a family's consent is if the deceased person never agreed to be a donor during their lifetime. Then it should be up