By Ilias Siakaras,
In the United States alone, there are thousands of people who are waiting for an organ donation such as a kidney donation, since their organs may develop urological problems or edema. Could you imagine being one of them? In this predicament, anyone will be desperate for this kind of donation, and there comes the matter of whether it is ethical or not for a human to continue and undergo this process or not.
In my opinion, this is a delicate issue so it cannot be approached with a one-sided viewpoint but with a multilateral point of view and definitely will be kept in mind to seek the benefit of humanity. To be more precise, people will have to sensitize on this matter and watch some documentaries on how much money illegal organ-traders have through people who have financial problems especially in countries of Africa, or what effect this will have on these people, they will be perceived as a source of income, which is unacceptable since human rights are being entrenched. As a result, the only way to deal with this situation is to donate organs within the law in order to counter these illicit methods.
Apart from this humanitarian aspect, there is a more practical one that is being related to the healthcare system and the whole needs of it. To elaborate the demand for organs, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, vital organs such as lung is high and hospitals are looking for donators; so if every single citizen is unwilling to go for such donation, the healthcare system will have a huge burden, and thus citizens will have to pay extra taxes so as to cover the cost which is caused as an outcome of this situation.
On the other hand, such donations may go against someone’s religious beliefs who do not agree to go for this kind of donation or transplant due to various reasons. For instance, Jehova’s Witnesses claim that the human body as something blessed from the god cannot be an object to trade and in the past, ancient Greeks believed that if a human had a part of the body infected, this was perceived as a sign of human’s fault from the gods and people used to cut that part of the body. From the above, it can be assumed that different judgments on this issue have to be heard as long as organs like a heart in some religions are being approached as a gift from God, unlike the modern biology approach.
To sum it all up, there are pros and cons to everything in life however our body is our property and we have the right to make our own choices regarding this even if it means to donate organ of our body and last but not least when it comes to saving lives it is a duty to act along with this duty despite the side effects.
