Life is a very precious commodity and each individual cherishes every moment they are alive. The sad part is that the modern world is cohabited with advanced and deadly diseases. People often get sick, and some end up recovering, others dying and even others do not recover nor die but, they carry the cross of sickness with them. Thanks to technology, a big percentage of these illnesses can be cured. According to doctors and researchers, some diseases can be healed through organ donation. This may include; heart, kidney, liver, lungs, or small intestines among others. The first organ transplant (kidney) was done in 1954 by Joseph Murray and John Harrison at Peter Brigham Hospital (History of organs p.1).
Organ donation can be done by a living or dead person. An article in the Medline plus describes organ donation as obtaining organs and tissues perceived to be healthy from a benefactor (par. 1) for transplantation purposes. It can be done by people of all ages, and specialists say that a single donor can prolong fifty more lives through his donation.
It is believed that, once the soul has departed from the body, the organs should be put into use to save others rather than left to waste. As noted earlier, a single donor can do miracles in the lives of many; therefore ways of obtaining these precious organs should be devised. An organ cannot be put into use before any contentment thus, for successful harvest and distribution of these organs permission ought to be sought. First, a person may voluntarily give permission for his organs to be used for transplantation once he dies. The numbers of these donors vary from one state to another due to differences in legislative approaches. The other approach is by requesting the family of the deceased to give consent for the donation in a case where the deceased did not permit earlier on. Most of the time, this approach is not fruitful because of demand for decent burial by the family members. Thirdly, a state may choose to sensitize people on the relevance of organ donation once death occurs. Emphasis can be laid by showing people the number of many people they may save by the brave act of donating organs. In the United Kingdom, organ donation is deliberate and an online catalog is set up for online registration for those who wish to donate their organs once they die (Center for ethical solution par. 6).
Countries requiring approval of organ donation have few endorsements and consequently, a higher list of cases in need of the organs. To evade this situation, powerful facilities for storage of the organs should be set up. This is to enable a prolonged life span of the organs.
Finally, organ donation is a very brave act, as the care and concern for others is prioritized. An individual chooses to deny himself a decent burial just to save and prolong the life of another, a person he will not know. States should therefore take the bold step and encourage people to be part and parcel of other people’s well being. They should view life as a delicate and precious thing rare to find and hence, steer the country to save productive beings in the society, once they die. If an individual donates an organ then he should be labeled ‘Life Saver’.
Works Cited
History of organs and tissue donation. n.d. 2009. Web.
Medline plus. 2009. “Organ donation.” Web.
Solving the organ shortage. 2009.”Center for ethical solution.” Web.