THE ETHICAL ISSUES IN TRANSPLANTS

The Ethical issues in Transplants

The Ethical issues in Transplants

Introduction

The problems connected with organ transplants are material for the dramas of life and death and the mixed promises of new technology. The problems involve ethical decisions for donors and recipients, as well as for members of the health care team, and ultimately, for society as a whole. Answers shift with changes in the state of the art and the effect of these changes on the level of risk involved. They may also change as the availability of organs increases or decreases or as society is more or less able or willing to pay for transplants. (Annas, 2005)

Many transplant procedures also pose questions about the ethics of experimentation. Finally, there are questions of informed consent involving patients and donors or the surrogates of the deceased in the case of cadaver transplants. This paper describe the ethical health care issue of transplant.

Discussion

Healthcare informatics has developed as fast as any science in the past, relying on and paralleling amazing progress in the compilation of information, analysis, transmission and storage. Computer-based communication and information tools continue to change the provision of health care and the formation and logical grasp of the human body and the illnesses that upset it. While IT has the capability to perk up the efficiency and quality of the health care, it brings significant social and ethical issues. Privacy, accuracy, property and accessibility (PAPA) are the 04 main issues of ethics for health care professionals. (Brey, 2005)

Privacy, Accuracy, Property and Accessibility (PAPA)

Privacy: What things could individuals keep to themselves and not be compelled to disclose to others?

Accuracy: Who is accountable for the genuineness, reliability and correctness of information?

Property: Who is the owner of the information? How can right to use to this be given?

Accessibility: What information does an organization or any individual have a privilege or right a to attain, under what situations and with what protects?

The Ethics of the Donor as Patient

The ethics of the living human donor are strongly influenced by the question of whether the donation involves a renewable resource, such as blood or bone marrow, or paired nonrenewable organs, such as the corneas or the kidneys, or nonpaired nonrenewable organs, such as the heart or the liver. ) (Caplan, 2008)

Today, there are few ethical problems with the donation of a renewable resource such as blood, as there are no real threats to the donor and few to the recipient, if the blood has been properly screened for such dangers as AIDS. On the other hand, any medical procedure involves some risk, even if minimal, and some type of expense, including those of discomfort and time. These facts, plus the varying rates of success, make the calculation of proportionality always a relevant issue.

All this presupposes that the donor gives informed consent. Surrogate decision making is more complex, whether for an incompetent adult or a child. What is the benefit that would justify a surrogate decision allowing a donation? For example, ...