Q07079

WHY EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE THE CHOICE TO BE AN ORGAN DONOR

Imagine this, one of your closest friends has just passed away and the funeral tomorrow. How would you feel? Then imagine that the doctors wanted to take your friend and take out his organs like he was an old car being chopped up for spare parts and give them away. How would you feel now? It is of popular belief that people should have the right to choose if they want their, or their deceased spouse or relative’s, organs. Everybody should be able to choose to become an organ donor because it is immoral to take body parts from somebody, alive or dead, without their permission, donating organs is a big decision to make and people shouldn’t be forced into choosing and taking body parts from anybody could be a hazard to the health of both people.

Taking body parts from deceased people who have not given consent is wrong because they are not alive to make a decision for themselves and it would not be particularly nice for the family and friends last look at their loved one to be of a corpsed sliced up for body parts. If a donor has previously stated that he or she wants to donate their organs when they die then it is acceptable. It is also acceptable if the parents of the next of kin of somebody choose to donate their organs to somebody who needs them to live, but it’s believed that taking parts from a deceased person who has not given consent is immoral.

Additionally, even though an average of 40 New Zealanders are saved by organ donation every year, Organ donation is a decision that will affect the rest of your life and is a decision that people shouldn’t feel forced into. If you take a kidney from somebody who likes to drink alcohol, then they will be risking their life next time they get intoxicated. If a decision as important to our lives as this was being made by somebody else, then we wouldn’t have control over our lives. Studies show that parents of children who have committed suicide are more likely to donate their body then parents of children who died of natural causes. It is common belief that this is a fair statistic as since these people took their own life, people who could use these organs to survive should be able to have them so that they can enjoy their life.

Furthermore, taking body parts from somebody who has not given consent could be dangerous to both people if the proper research is not done beforehand. For example, taking a liver or kidney from an alcoholic could be harmful to both parties as the person receiving the organ will be exposed to different poisons that the body will not be used to, and the person donating will have less protection from their alcoholic lifestyle, and is likely to die of alcoholic poisoning. Similar results would occur with somebody who repeatedly smokes cigarettes or use recreational drugs. Because of this, my belief is that it is a bad decision to take organs from any random person without knowing their health details beforehand

In conclusion, organ donation is a good cause but taking body parts from anybody, and not the people who have given consent is immoral because that is a decision people should make by themselves.