The current number of people waiting for an organ match in the United States today stands at over one hundred thousand. The general waiting time for an organ is three to five years but varies with the type of organ you need and your blood type. There are temporary solutions for organ failure such as medications or treatments such as dialysis for those needing a kidney. The problem with this long wait for organs is that life expectancies decrease the longer these short-term solutions are used. The waitlist also continues to grow longer as the number of organs needed increase and the number of organ donors decrease. The number of people that support organ donation is overwhelming, but underwhelming compared to the number of people that are actually registered. With this issue continuing to increase, research has heightened to find out why individuals are straying away from becoming an organ donor. Common reasons for those not becoming an organ donor are religion restrictions, mistrust of medical professionals, and the uncomfortable thought about death. Researchers suggest that changing America’s donation system from an opt-in system to an opt-out one would close the significant gap between the number of people on a waitlist and the number of people that are registered. (Wen) Organ donation should be mandatory for every individual in the United States nowadays because of how the lack of available organs affects the waitlist, the lives of people that are waiting, and the United States as a whole. 

Organ donation is the process by which an organ is surgically removed from an organ donor and transferred to the body of a recipient. The organs that are able to be donated is a broad list such as the liver, kidneys, lungs, and heart for example. Individuals in the United States currently have the option to become a living donor or a deceased donor. The current system in the United States has an opt-in approach. Individuals are not organ donors by default but may choose to become one by registering on their driver’s license or granting their next of kin permission. In 2009, of South Carolina’s total population, a little over twenty-one percent of people pre-registered to donate their organs. Still the number remains low, with the number of people registered in South Carolina a little over 1.1 million. The Palmetto state placed above only two other states. (Vanderknyff) Registering to donate isn’t effective immediately and takes time to be able to donate. The most popular way to registering in South Carolina is through your local DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles). This fact is shocking as only twenty-two percent of people living in South Carolina register as an organ donor when getting a new driver’s license. Individuals in the United States can register through their state’s organ donor registry. 

Most organ donations come from deceased donors but there are still ways that living donors can give. Living donors can choose to donate one of their kidneys, a lobe from their liver, or even a lung. Forty percent of organ donations come from living donors. Living donors are also much more likely to donate to a friend or relative but may choose to donate to someone they don’t know. Living donors are categorized into three ways based on how they donate: Directed donation (To a loved one or friend), nondirected donation (Person at top of list receives the organ), and directed donation to a stranger (No emotional connection) Living donors face a number of requirements such as physical wellbeing and no history of a bad medical past. The NIH (National Institute of Health) has interviewed the outcomes of living donors with the average report stating that the donors have done well over time. The majority of organ donations come from deceased donors. If the individual was not pre-registered as an organ donor their next of kin will be the one to make the decision. Unfortunately, the process of becoming an organ donor is much more complex than it should be and probably a part of the reason people choose not to be a donor.

The number of people on the organ donation waitlist is significant especially with the numbers increasing. Every hour six people are added to the national transplant list. If you times that by three, that is the number of people that die every day waiting on an organ transplant in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the number of people on a waitlist stands at one hundred and sixteen thousand individuals with only twelve thousand registered donors in the United States. The number of transplants performed so far in 2017 are just over twenty-six thousand. This information means that it would take over four years for every person on the waitlist to receive an organ match. While this rate may not seem alarming, the gap between the number of donors and organs needed continues to widen which will only increase the number of years it will take to catch up. HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) also explains that every organ donor can save up to eight lives which softens the harsh impact of numbers. In 2016, the number of people that died while waiting for an organ transplant was six thousand. An issue with the waitlist is the number of people that give directly to someone or that have guidelines on who they want to donate to. (Robert Troug) In other words, people on the waitlist may exploit their story or advertise it to find an organ faster. This process is ultimately fair but puts them ahead of people that have been waiting on the list for years.

It is no surprise that those waiting on a transplant list have a decreased quality of life rather than those that are not in need of an organ. The affected individuals are less likely to participate in daily activities because of their health and may have abnormal schedules due to treatments for their illness. Often these individuals have had to leave their jobs due to their 

illness. Some patients with severe illnesses will be put on bedrest by their doctor. The longer a patient with kidney disease is on dialysis, the shorter their life expectancy becomes. If a patient decides to stop attending their dialysis treatments, they may live for only ten days or shorter. Someone in need of a liver may not live for more than one year. Those in need of a heart transplant will be required to use a VAD (ventricular assist device) which is a chest pump that pumps blood from the ventricles to the rest of the body. Artificial hearts may also be a solution while waiting for a fresh heart. VAD’s will last for up to ten years while Artificial hearts tend to fail much quicker.  

As these illnesses for patients become more severe, they lean on government programs such as welfare for help. Patients often receive a disability or unemployment check if they have had to quit their jobs. As the waitlist continues to expand, America will continue to be hurt economically. The urge for the United States to switch to an opt-out system continues to be more convincing as countries such as France make the switch. Studies show that countries with an opt-out system have an organ donation rate of ninety percent while countries with an opt-in system, such as the United States, have a rate of fifteen percent. (Scheiber) The division in America about who donates their organs seems to be between two races in particular. Studies done between African-Americans and whites showed that African-Americans donate their organs at a much lower rate than whites. (Minniefield) This study only proves that more education on organ donation must be made available. 

The number of benefits that come from organ donation are so great that it becomes hard to question why people would not want to become an organ donor. Individuals decide to not become organ donors for a variety of reasons. Those reasons may stem from religion restrictions, mistrust of medical professionals, and the uncomfortable thought about death. A popular belief for religious individuals is that after life your body must be fully intact for your soul to move on. The Amish believe that it is God who heals, ultimately opposing organ donation. Many religions often encourage organ donation explaining that it is an act of charity and that the donor will receive great benefits, or they view the issue as a personal choice. Ultimately, forcing organ donation on those with religious oppositions would be going against the First Amendment. Mandatory Organ Donation with exemptions to those that face religious conflict would create another issue to deal with. (David Pakman) A mistrust of medical professionals may also be a reason as to why an individual decides not to donate. There is a common myth that doctors will not do everything they can to save your life if they know you are an organ donor. Another popular position in this debate is that people just aren’t ready to start thinking about death. No one wants to have to think about what will happen to their body when they die or discuss this issue with their family. People that aren’t ready to discuss death yet will typically use their freedom of choice as an argument. 

There are many issues that surround the topic of organ donation. Many changes will not happen overnight but are a step in the right direction. Even if the United States does not make organ donation mandatory, an opt-out system would decrease the amount of people on our national transplant waiting list. Organ donation will always be an issue in this country, but it will get worse if we don’t do something to change it. The argument that this topic is unethical only makes sense in the fact that its unethical to have people wait and wait because someone was too selfish to give up their organs or were not educated enough when they passed on. A change in the system we have now will only benefit our national transplant waitlist, the lives of those that are waiting, and our nation. 
