Bioethics Case Study

However, not all organ transplants contribute to bioethical problems since the organs are readily available and patients can afford. A kidney transplant is the main bioethical issue found in organ transplant. Patients requiring kidney transplant are marginalized due to the inability of securing another kidney organ due to lack of money to pay for the donors and medical professionals. They have marginalized also due to their high chances of dying before finding a donor whose organ is compatible with theirs. According to the U. Legalization of the sale of human organs by different governments has impacted the marginalization of patients requiring an organ transplant. In the Health News article Park argues that legalization of the sale of human organs has caused a reduction in the number of those willing to donate.

People who can be paid for an action are less likely to perform the action for free, and, therefore, it would not create any impact in increasing the rate of supply of human organs (Park, 1970). Patients who are unable to pay a large amount of money required for a kidney transplant have to ail in bed as they wait for their death since the waiting list is long and fewer people are willing to donate for free. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy reveals that legalization has led to exploitation of the poor in two ways; first, they are used as the main hosts to provide organs required by patients. Online sites such as Amazon and eBay have taken such advantage by doubling the price of the kidneys making t difficult for patients to purchase them.

Brokers have also taken advantage of the situation by increasing their own delivery charges or changing the genuine kidneys with cadaver kidneys despite being paid by the dealers. In countries where legalization has been accepted, the governments should have the obligation of issuing a trading license to specific traders responsible for selling kidney organs and those found trading without the original license should be subjected to punishment. Governments have failed to pay doctors who perform surgery and transplant thereby placing an extra burden to patients who have to look for money to buy the organs and at the same time pay the doctors. Lack of payment by the government has made some doctors move to other countries to look for work.

Doctors should respect patients regardless of their conditions and situations. A kidney transplant is associated with various medical issues to both the donors and the recipients. Research conducted by Living Kidney Donor Death/Mortality (2012) reveals that people who donate their kidneys normally experience post-operative complications related to surgery and develop diseases such as pancreatitis and Addison’s. Despite the fact that the donors will be paid a lot of money with the exchange of their kidneys, they are likely to develop complications with their digestive systems due to overworking of the remaining kidney. Since doctors are in a hurry to get money, they rush in doing operations for different patients so that they can have a lot of organs to transplant.

Many countries rely on donations of kidneys from deceased individuals which last for 10 years as opposed to living human organs which lasts for 15 or more years. Live organ transplant adds to the number of lives saved through transplant because people with end-stage kidney disease who receive a transplant tend to live much longer than those who undergo dialysis. However, the majority of doctors and donors are influenced by altruism which makes them purchase kidneys that are not genuine and have a shorter lifespan. Kidney transplant from cadaver affects the patients since they are not guaranteed of having a longer lifespan despite spending a lot of money in purchasing it. Similarly, kidneys from cadavers are rarely tested before removal since the person is dead and thus the patient is not assured about the effectiveness of the kidney after transplant.

Selfishness and greed among doctors have led to kidney patients ailing in bed until they die due to lack of money to purchase organs. Similarly, relatives of the patients might decide to end the life of the patients rather than staying in the hospital without seeing any hopes of getting a kidney. Basically, a person’s organs belong to them and they are free to do whatever they want with their bodies. Prevention of organ sale due to manipulation of the poor seems to be a denial of rights and hypocritical to those willing to sell. Changes in economy and hardship of life have led to many people signing up for dangerous medical procedures, serving in armed forces and engaging in legal and health risk behaviors based on a legal principle that they have the right to take charge of their own bodies.

This discoveries and inventions have reduced the rate of fear among donors who can now be able to donate their kidney without having any fear of death or diseases (Wilkinson, 2012). Scientists are in the process of developing artificial kidneys which will be transplanted to patients and will be sold at a fairly cheap price. This will help to eliminate the manipulative donors who are after money and cannot be able to help the poor. Since the invention of artificial teeth has helped so many people and has reduced the use of brokers in delivering them to the hospitals, kidney patients will also be able to afford to purchase the kidneys since they will be communicating directly with the producers. Summary. Retrieved from https://www.