ORGAN DONATION

#ORGAN DONATION#

Organ donation is the removal of the tissues of the human body from a person who has recently died, or from a living donor, for the purpose of transplanting. Organs and tissues are removed in procedures similar to surgery, and all incisions are closed at the conclusion of the surgery. Simple, effective steps can be taken to provide a traditional funeral viewing whenever this might be desired. People of all ages may be organ and tissue donors.

In numerical terms, donations from dead donors far outweigh donations by living ones. The laws of different countries allow either the potential organ donor to consent or dissent to the donation during his or her life time, or allow the potential donor's relatives to consent or dissent. Due to cultural issues and different legislative possibilities, the number of donations per million people varies substantially in different countries.
Organs that can be procured include the heart, intestines, kidneys, lungs, liver, pancreas. These are procured from a brain dead donor or a donor where the family has consent for donation after cardiac death, known as non-heart-beating donation. Bones, tendons, corneas, heart valves, femoral veins, great saphenous veins, small saphenous veins, pericardium, skin grafts, and the sclera are the tissues can be procured. These are only procured after death. Organs that can be donated from living donors include part of the liver or pancreas and the kidney. However, organs are not accepted from a person who has an active or recent case of cancer, who has ever had a blood cancer, or who has certain infectious diseases, including HIV or severe bacterial or fungal infections at the time of death. People with these conditions may be able to donate their bodies or tissues for lab research or education, but not to a living recipient.

One may ask, "Why even consider donating my tissues and organs?" Well, there are a few very critical importance. The first of these is that nearly 84,000 people are on the national waiting list for an organ. The number will be increasing from year to year. This is a very large amount of people and a lot of lives could be saved through organ donation. Another reason is simply that organ donation saves lives. If you want to make a difference in this world or in the medical community, be an organ donor. Every day, about 68 people receive organ or tissue transplants that potentially extend their lease on life. 84 percent of patients who receive a kidney transplant are still alive 5 years later! Another simple fact is that with your organs and tissues, you could help up to 50 people. There are many different organs and tissues from our body that can be used in other people.

Nevertheless, the main problem of organ donation is deciding the difference between dead and nearly dead. The difference is important and can be illustrated by a character in the movie, The Princess Bride. In this movie, a prince has most, but not all life extracted from him. "Is he dead," a character asks? "No, only nearly dead. We can revive him," is the answer. That perfectly illustrates the problem in organ donation. It is very hard to define death in a person with a heartbeat and some intact vital functions, supported by a ventilator and intravenous drugs.

Since organ donation is crucial in saving one’s live, ‘Green Ribbon’ campaign has been advocated throughout the world. Green symbolizes the continuation of life. It is a symbol for those thousands who wait, men, women and children on transplant waiting lists. It speaks of the dire need for more organs and the life-giving miracle of transplantation. It has come to mean sharing the gift of life through organ and tissue donation. The green ribbon therefore represents the unselfishness of the donor, the courage of the donor family and the new life of the recipients. Wearing a ribbon is now a cultural norm for showing support of individual causes.

Society needs to view organ donation as a collective responsibility. It is time that health professionals consider organ donation as a standard aspect of patient care. With that hopefully, it will become the custom for Malaysians to donate organs after death to save others rather than let them go to waste.

Written by ANNIE LEM