Introduction
In our world today, most people live carelessly without paying any attention to their health. Furthermore, since most people lack proper health insurance, very few people have access to annual medical checkups and proper medical care. This has resulted in different organs failing among the diverse American population, and the world in general. Research shows that the most common transplant organs in America include the kidney, liver, heart, and lungs. Kidney failure is the most common organ failure in the United States of America. This is due to the fact that most people with kidney disease may not show signs and symptoms until it is very severe. There are two types of kidney failure, chronic and acute. Chronic kidney failure occurs over a given period of time, while acute kidney failure occurs suddenly. This essay will investigate the effects of needing a kidney transplant. An increase in kidney failure leads to the need for an organ transplant, which then leads to anxiety and depression in the patients awaiting, organ trafficking, and payments for organ donations.
Anxiety and Depression
The mental health of patients on the waiting list should be monitored. According to Annema et al. (2017), there are several psychological effects on the patients on the organ donor waitlist. Thus, it is vital to ensure that these patients do not fall into poor mental health because of despair or waiting too long. The most common psychological effect is anxiety and depression, since most patients have no idea whether the donor will be found before they succumb to their conditions (Annema et al., 2017). Furthermore, their study discovered that suitable psychological interventions should be applied to patients on the waiting list to ensure that they are psychologically fit to undergo a transplant (Annema et al., 2017). Thus, it is vital to ensure that all patients on the waitlist are constantly offered mental health advice to ensure that all patients are mentally fit to undergo the organ transplant. It is also vital to ensure that these patients are warned about the long wait and encouraged to be patient as they wait for their donor matches.
Anxiety in kidney transplant patients mostly arises due to inequality in accessing live donors. According to Basiri et al. (2020), most wealthy patients have better access to living donors as compared to less wealthy clients. Furthermore, the strain of living with a failed organ and undergoing dialysis usually develops into depression since most patients do not see a way forward with their conditions (Basiri et al., 2020). Additionally, Basiri et al. (2020), discovered that kidney transplant patients are more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression due to the fact that they have to wait for an extended period of time before receiving their graft. Thus, doctors must ensure that their patients do not fall into depression by staying optimistic and encouraging them to keep searching for living donors within their circle of friends and relatives. The ongoing search will give them something to live for as they will try to actively participate in the search for a suitable donor.
All patients on the donor waitlist must undergo a series of psychological exams to ensure they select the best match for a given organ. Thus, patients with increased kidney failure must be encouraged to stay as mentally fit as possible to ensure they can get a chance at being given an available organ (Golfieri et al., 2019). The patients must also adhere to all of the doctors’ instructions and prescriptions. This will help manage their conditions as a suitable donor is being located (Golfieri et al., 2019). This section has discussed how being on an organ transplant waitlist can result in anxiety and depression since one is not sure of whether or not a donor will be found.
Organ Trafficking
The increased kidney failure that results in the need for an organ transplant causes organ trafficking. This is especially so in the third world and developing countries where people are kidnapped, and their organs are harvested for sale on the black-market (Gonzalez et al., 2020). Organ trafficking has been on the rise as the waitlist keeps getting longer, with more people needing an organ transplant. Since kidney transplant patients usually wait for a considerable amount of time before receiving their grafts from suitable donor matches, they are more likely to buy their organs on the black-market. Organ trafficking is illegal, and it should not be encouraged since it results in kidnapping and death of donors since the kidnap victim’s organs will be harvested for sale without their consent (Martin et al., 2019). Furthermore, buying an organ on the black-market encourages these organ traffickers to keep obtaining organs illegally and sell them to patients who can afford to pay the exorbitant prices. Thus, it is vital to ensure that patients are discouraged from buying organs from the black-market.
Research has shown that the debate on organ trafficking has largely remained out of policy debates because it is a crime which can hardly be detected, reported, or adequately researched since its victims are usually never found alive (Gonzalez et al., 2020). Furthermore, it is a crime which usually targets migrants because they are vulnerable and in a new environment (Gonzalez et al., 2020). Thus, it is vital to improve awareness of the organ trafficking problem and inform the public of possible scenarios where one can be kidnapped, and their organs harvested.
Increased awareness will reduce the number of potential targets that fall prey to organ traffickers, which will result in reduced organ trafficking. Similarly, Martin et al. (2019) agree that organ trafficking is a global problem which needs collaboration from different countries to help reduce its effects. Furthermore, their study, which focused on strengthening global efforts to combat organ trafficking, cited the availability of ready market as one of the main reasons for increased organ trafficking across the globe (Gonzalez et al., 2020; Martin et al., 2019). Thus, it is obvious that a reduction in the available market will lead to a reduction in organ trafficking since there will be no buyers for the harvested organs. Countries should collaborate to ensure that anyone found buying an organ on the black-market is prosecuted to the full extent of the law (Martin et al., 2019). Implementation of strict government policies and establishment of task forces to track and apprehend organ traffickers will go a long way in ensuring the reduction of organ trafficking cases.
Payments for Organ Donations
Patients usually pay for organ donations to avoid staying too long on the waitlist. According to Sellers et al. (2018), in their study that investigated the deterrents to successful solid organ donation, the entire waitlist process usually fails patients who end up dying while still on the waitlist. Furthermore, their study discovered that most of the respondents did not want to donate their organs because of their fear of inadequate medical care after the donation (Sellers et al., 2018). Similarly, Cornock (2020) agrees that most potential organ donors are concerned with inadequate medical care after donation. This problem has seen organ recipients requesting to pay potential donors for their organs so that they could take care of themselves and as an incentive for encouraging the donor to donate their organ or kidney (Cornock 2020; Sellers et al., 2018). Other organ recipients on the waitlist invest heavily in locating their donor matches then visiting them and offering them money to donate their organs (Cornock 2020; Singh, 2020; Sellers et al., 2018). Thus, it is evident that increased kidney failure results in payments for organ donation.
Unfavorable government policies have failed to address the donated organ shortage. According to Singh (2020), the current organ procurement and transplantation law and policy have failed to cater for the organ shortfall. Thus, there is a need to use alternative means to ensure that patients just do not go on the waitlist to await their deaths. These interventions could include the introduction of financial incentives to help donors decide on how fast they want to donate their organs (Singh, 2020). Furthermore, Singh (2020) discovered that governments have failed to realize that organ trafficking and illegal payments will continue as long the demand for organs outweighs the supply. Therefore, it is essential for governments to ensure that favorable government policies are in place to allow for financial incentives that will encourage donors to donate their organs. Failure to update the existing policies to more flexible ones will only result in increased organ trafficking and more illegal payments to potential donor matches. Also, it will result in more deaths as more people keep waiting for organs which they will never get.
The increased organ failure that results in the need for an organ transplant, promotes illegal organ donor payments as there are people with considerable financial resources who are tired of being on the waitlist. These wealthy patients usually decide to spend a fortune on incentivizing a potential donor so that they may be able to skip to the forefront of the waiting list (Sellers et al., 2018). The entire practice is considered by others as being unfair to the less resourceful patients. However, policies should be made to ensure that live organ donors may be compensated for their organs to help reduce the ever-growing organ donor waitlist.
Conclusion
This essay has discussed the effects of needing a kidney transplant in America and across the world. Evidently, increased kidney failure results in the need for an organ transplant, which results in anxiety and depression, organ trafficking, and payments for organ donations. The anxiety and depression are as a result of constantly worrying about whether your suitable match would be found in the donor list or among friends and family before you die. Similarly, organ trafficking is rampantly increasing as more people develop organ failure. The increasingly long waitlist has forced patients to visit black-market sites looking for organs to save their lives. Increased kidney failure has also resulted in payments for organ donations by the wealthier patients on the organ donor waitlist. People are paying others for their organs to speed up the waiting process and reduce their pain. Therefore, it is vital that more awareness is made on the effects of kidney failure so that Americans can start taking better care of their health.
References
Annema, C., Roodbol, P. F., Van den Heuvel, E. R., Metselaar, H. J., Van Hoek, B., Porte, R. J., & Ranchor, A. V. (2017). Trajectories of anxiety and depression in liver transplant candidates during the waiting‐list period.British Journal of Health Psychology, 22(3), 481-501. Web.
Basiri, A., Taheri, M., Khoshdel, A., Golshan, S., Mohseni-Rad, H., Borumandnia, N. & Khalili, N. (2020). Living or deceased-donor kidney transplant: the role of psycho-socioeconomic factors and outcomes associated with each type of transplant.International Journal for Equity in Health, 19(1), 1-11. Web.
Cornock, M. (2020). Organ donation in the United Kingdom. Orthopaedic & Trauma Times, 38, 29-42. Web.
Golfieri, L., Gitto, S., Vukotic, R., Andreone, P., Marra, F., Morelli, M. C. & Grandi, S. (2019). Impact of psychosocial status on liver transplant process.Annals of Hepatology, 18(6), 804-809. Web.
Gonzalez, J., Garijo, I., & Sanchez, A. (2020). Organ trafficking and migration: A bibliometric analysis of an untold story.International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(9), 3204. Web.
Martin, D. E., Van Assche, K., Domínguez-Gil, B., López-Fraga, M., Gallont, R. G., Muller, E., & Capron, A. M. (2019). Strengthening global efforts to combat organ trafficking and transplant tourism: implications of the 2018 edition of the Declaration of Istanbul. Transplantation Direct, 5(3). Web.
Sellers, M. T., McGinnis, H. S., Alperin, M., Sweeney, J. F., & Dodson, T. F. (2018). Deterrents to organ donation: A multivariate analysis of 766 survey respondents. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 226(4), 414-422. Web.
Singh, S. C. (2020). Financial incentives for organ donation: The case for compensating organ donors. IUP Law Review, 10(2).