The ethical way forward for procurement of organs Essay

The ethical way forward for procurement of organs - Essay Example This dissertation attempts to evaluate the current practice in organ donation and evaluate the relevance of ethical and legal issues relating to it in the modern world. It will also contain an analysis of what procedure should be followed in the future for the procurement and transplantation of organs and tissues. The study will lay specific emphasis on: a) Issue of presuming consent for organ donation. b) Ethical and legal issues about the procurement of organs. c) Xenotransplantation. d) procurement of organs from other species e) Commoditization of organs Organ procurement is a significant practice in the medical industry since it profoundly aids in saving lives of people who have defects in the organs that are vital for their survival. It is a good thing to save lives of people whenever means are available to save life of the people with organ donation. Without adequate possibility of procurement of organs, these people would be disadvantaged. Therefore, procurement is extremely important for the welfare of humankind. However, in the present day, concerns regarding the whole system of organ procurement have arisen, bringing into light various ethical and legal issues relating to it. ... ground: According to the Medical Conditions Dictionary (2010), organ procurement is a set of procedures that includes the administrative, authoritative and ethical processes observed in the acquisition of organs for transplant via affiliations, systems or programmes. The organ procurement procedure refers to obtaining consent from the donors or their family and close relatives and the transportation of the organs harvested from the donor to the respective health centres for further medical processing and eventual transplant into the recipient. Organ procurement began as a basic endeavour when affiliations that specialized in kidney transplantation obtained organs and used them to save lives in the same facility. As the demand for organs grew and the transplantation of other organs, such as the heart, small intestines, pancreas, liver and lungs, became successful in practice, the need to develop enhanced and ethical organ procurement, distribution and sharing agreements became crucial (Mancini et al. 2010). Because of the high demand for organs for transplant in current times, numerous organizations, through the efforts of physicians, scholars and medical personnel, have started attempting to counteract the acute shortage to avoid deaths. The ever-increasing shortage of organs requires society to decide on specific yielding policies on procurement. In many countries, like the US, procurement of organs requires the explicit consent of the donor prior to his or her death. This policy is known as an opting-in system or expressed consent. In accordance with this policy, if an individual aspires to donate his organs after death, he should express this consent by signing a donor card. Explicit consent is always considered as the informed consent of prospective donors. This