Organ donation is giving an organ to help someone who needs a transplant. Organ donation and organ transplantation have always stirred a controversy, right since the beginning. People, who did not believe in the possibility of organ transplantation, criticized its earliest pioneers, primarily on ethical grounds. The argument was against the removal of vital organs and tissues from one human body and transplanting them into the other. Nevertheless, there were also many, who were in favor of the same because it saved lives. However, organ donation does have some disadvantages, although most of them result from popular misconceptions.
Complications During and After Surgery
there are certain possibilities of complications arising during and after the surgery that is performed for extracting the organs from the body of a living donor. Some of these complications might include excessive bleeding, clotting of blood, and/or infection on the site on which the surgery is conducted. While the doctors might be able to control most of these complications, there have also been some extremely rare instances, wherein the complications have proved to be fatal for the donor.
Hampers the Overall Health in the Long Run
Depending on the organ a live donor donates, he/she might face certain adverse effects due to its absence, in the long run. For instance, if one of the kidneys is donated, it might cause hypertension or kidney failure in the future. Similarly, a lung donor may suffer from various respiratory disorders, and a liver donor may face various gastrointestinal problems or liver failure.
Psychological Effects on the Donor's Family
Organ donation might have adverse psychological effects on the family of the donor. In case of a deceased donor, the very thought of burying/cremating him/her without the vital organs can be extremely disturbing and painful. It might further add to the family's grief. On the other hand, if the donor is still alive, the idea that he/she is living without one of the vital organs can be very unpleasant and upsetting for the family.
Financial Problems
Sometimes, a decision to become a live organ donor might create a lot of financial problems for an individual. In case of a deceased donor, the family and relatives do not have to bear the expenses of procedure of organ donation. But, if the donor is alive, he/she has to bear the medical expenses and the cost of the surgery.
Further, if the donor is a working professional, he/she also has to bear the loss of salary for the time taken off work. Moreover, in case of post-surgical health complications, the donor might also lose the job as his/her productivity might be hampered.
In the United States, the cost of a liver transplant is $71,000, plus an additional $25,000 for every 30 days of care pre-transplant. For those who need a heart-lung transplant, the cost is $130,000, with an additional $56,000 for every 30 days of care pre-transplant. For many organ recipients, their total care cost exceeds $1 million, with heart-lung transplant recipients facing a cost of $2.3 million. Part of this cost is due to the wait time to receive an organ transplant. For some organs, the average wait time can be 3-5 years in some regions of the United States.
No Right to Choose the Recipient
The organ donor has no right to choose the person who would get his/her organs. This is often considered as one of the cons of organ donation by some. This is because the recipient might belong to a different religious faith, may have a different political ideology or may be completely opposite of what the donor is.
In such cases, the donor and his/her family might not feel very happy with the donation they have made. However, one has to agree to the fact that life is equally precious for every individual, and the recipient will always be grateful to the donor for the organ that he/she has received.
Unethical Trade of Human Vital Organs
One of the most important negative impacts of organ donation is the illegal and unethical buying and selling of organs in the black market, which is spread worldwide, and it involves an enormous amount of money. Numerous human organ trade rackets have been busted by various legal authorities till date, and still quite a number of them thrive worldwide.
The great imbalance in the ratio of available organs in comparison to the number of needy patients is a factor responsible for such a trade. It is indeed a pity that due to the big money that is involved in the trade, many individuals such as prison inmates and children (who are often kidnapped for organ trade) are forced to donate their vital organs. Buying and selling of organs is illegal in many countries of the world.
Employers do not always have leave policies for living donations.
Only 12 states in the US currently have organ or bone marrow donor leave policies that impact private sector employees. Federal government employees receive 30 days of paid leave for an organ donation and 7 days of paid leave for a bone marrow donation that is over and above the employee’s sick and annual leave. Most states have similar donor leave laws for state employees, but some offer the 30 days of leave unpaid.
Not everyone can become an organ donor.
Although many people can become an organ donor through a simple authorization process, not everyone is eligible. There are age-related restrictions on certain organs. You cannot be over 80 years old to make a cornea donation and must be younger than 60 to donate heart valves or tendons. People with certain existing medical conditions, such as being HIV-positive, having metastasized cancer in the last 12 months, or being diagnosed with Creuzfeldt - Jacob Disease will also prevent a donation.
Organ donations can lead to other health problems.
To become a living donor, a surgery or medical procedure is required. Any surgery offers a risk to the person that may include death. Other health problems can develop after a surgery that requires a lifestyle change. People who donate bone marrow, for example, may be restricted in the future activities for a lifetime. Those who donate a kidney may be prohibited from consuming alcohol. For those who receive an organ, there is a 10% risk of diabetes development.
Organ transplants require surgery. These surgeries are always invasive. There are substantial risks of organ transplants. It is possible a surgery can go wrong, a particular body can reject an organ, there can be side effects after the procedure is done and a new organ doesn’t always assure a better life. There are case studies where people have died even after a successful organ transplant.
There is not always a choice for the donation.
Many families do not have a choice in who gets the organs that are being donated by a loved one through tragedy. They are simply given to the person who is on the organ donation list who is a match and in the direst of need. This means someone of a different faith, a different political position, or different culture may receive the organ and that can be difficult for some families to accept. Living donations are often matched to other family members, while direct matches for humanitarian purposes are also possible, so this key point doesn’t always apply.
In situations where the vital organs are donated, it is very important that the recipient's body accepts the organ that has been transplanted. In other words, the donor's and the recipient's bodies need to be compatible with each other for an organ transplant to be successful. In cases where the compatibility does not occur, the recipient's body rejects the organ, which then has to be removed. Therefore, finding a suitable donor is quite a task.
The decision to gift the boon of life rests in our hands. If our time has come, perhaps we can share a part of our body with another person, who still has many more miles to go. A thorough knowledge of organ donation, and the pros and cons that accompany it, can help us and our family make an informed decision.