One Nation, Without Organs for All

Addressing America’s History of Organ Supply Deficiency

By:

Richard Golfin III

©2010

Introduction

rgan transplantation is a surgical operation by which a mass of specialized cells are removed from one body and placed into the body of another. The term organ transplantation typically refers to solid transplantable organs: heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, pancreas and intestines. Other less invasive types of transplants include eyes, ear or nose, bladder, skin, tongue, and muscles.

In transplantation, organs are acquired from one of two sources. The first source of organs comes by cadaveric organ donation. In cadaveric organ donation, organs are acquired from a recently deceased person. The decedent has, in their lifetime or through an advance healthcare directive expressly consented to donating their organs after death. The second source of organs for transplantation is through living organ donors. Living organ donation differs from cadaveric organ donation in that living organ donation requires just that—that a donor remains living after the organ is acquired. Donations made in this manner are unique because they require both the donor and donee to remain alive, thus, the number and types of organs which may be donated are limited to paired organ sets, such as a kidney, or a portion of an organ which may remain functional after part of it has been donated, such as the liver.[1] Despite the variety of organs that can be acquired from either source, a shortage of transplantable organs has plagued the industry and remains the single largest obstacle in organ transplantation. According to the Mayo Clinic, more than 107,000 people are currently waiting for transplant organs, with approximately 300 people being added each month; more than 6,000 people will die this year because they were unable to receive an organ in time.[2]^,[3]