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Published: 27 May 2020

Knowledge, attitude and willingness to donate organ among medical students of Jimma University, Jimma Ethiopia: cross-sectional study

Fantu Kerga Dibaba ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4331-3907 1 ,
Kabaye Kumela Goro 1 ,
Amare Desalegn Wolide 2 ,
Fanta Gashe Fufa 1 ,
Aster Wakjira Garedow 1 ,
Birtukan Edilu Tufa 3 &
Eshetu Mulisa Bobasa 1

BMC Public Health volume 20 , Article number: 799 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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The lack of organ donors has become a limiting factor for the development of organ transplantation programs. Many countries are currently facing a severe shortage of organs for transplantation. Medical students, as future doctors can engage in the role of promoting organ donation by creating awareness and motivating the community to donate their organs besides their voluntary organ donation. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge, attitude and willingness of undergraduate medical students’ towards organ donation at Jimma University.

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 320 medical students from year I to internship using questionnaire in order to assess their knowledge, attitude and willingness regarding organ donation. Data collected was entered using epidata and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 20.

Mean (±SD = standard deviation) age of participants was 23.48 ± 17.025 years. 57.8% of the study subjects were male. There was a statistically significant interaction effect between gender and year of study on the combined knowledge questions (dependent variables) F(25,062) = 1.755, P = 0.014, Wilk’s Λ = .033. Variables which were related to a positive attitude towards organ donation were: being of the male sex (Odds Ratio = 1.156); having awareness about organ donation (Odds Ratio = 2.602); not having a belief on the importance of burying intact body (Odds Ratio = 5.434); willingness to donate blood (Odds Ratio = 4.813); and willingness to donate organ (Odds Ratio = 19.424).

High level of knowledge but low level of positive attitude and willingness was noticed among the study participants toward organ donation.

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The need for organ donation has increased globally in the past years due to an increase in organ failure [ 1 ]. Every day in the United States of America (USA), 21 people die waiting for an organ and more than 120,048 men, women, and children await life-saving organ transplants [ 2 ]. Accor-ding to a survey In India every year about 5 lakh (500,000) people die because of non-availability of organs and 1.5 lakh(150,000) people await a kidney transplant but only 5000 get among them [ 3 ]. Recently published report has found that approximately 3 million people in sub-Saharan Africa diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) die each year due to renal failure [ 4 ]. In Kenya, the kidney transplant queue at Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi stretches all the way to 2018, despite the hospital performing the procedure on a weekly basis [ 5 ]. In Ethiopia, between 130 and 150 corneas are collected yearly. However, there are more than 300,000 blind people waiting for corneal transplantation [ 6 ].

There are no sufficient facilities which provide maintenance and transplantation therapy for failed organs in Ethiopia. Currently there are only cornea and living related kidney transplant programs established in the nation’s capital Addis Ababa [ 6 ]. Facilities which provide maintenance dialysis has been in existence in the country starting from 2001. Hemodialysis has become on hand in private institutions, mostly in Addis Ababa the capital city of the country, and more recently in a few other urban and semi-urban regions. Currently, there are 30 hemodialysis centers with a total of 186 hemodialysis chairs and approximately 800 patients on hemodialysis. Among patients on maintenance dialysis, only about one-third receives treatment 3× per year because the cost of hemodialysis is unaffordable for the majority of patients [ 7 ].

Organ transplantation is one of the great advances in modern medicine and is the best option for failed organ. Transplantation is defined as the transfer of human cells, tissues or organs from a donor to recipient with an aim of restoring normal physiology in the body [ 8 ]. In Ethiopia, up to 2018, 1336 corneal and 90 living donor kidney transplants have been performed. Currently the kidney transplant program accepts candidates only at the age of 14 and above [ 7 , 9 ].

Some studies found out that the issue of organ donation is multifactorial. In developed countries relational ties, religious beliefs, cultural influences, family influences, body integrity, and previous interactions with the health-care system were reported as the potential factors for organ donation [ 10 ]. However, there are limited studies regarding organ donation and the factors that influence it in developing countries for instance, in Kenya there are peoples who believe a person’s body should be intact when buried this belief and other sociocultural and legal factors hinder the harvest of organ from patients who have been medically declared to be in a “state of dying” [ 5 ].

Among 100,000 of people died each year are believed to be potential donors; however, only less than 200 actually become donors [ 11 ]. This indicates that a lot should be done on awareness creation towards organ donation. As a new approach in solving the organ shortage, it has been suggested that awareness about organ donation to be made a part of school education [ 12 ]. In Ethiopia we suggest to use religious leaders besides to incorporating the issue in school education, because Ethiopia is religious country. Our country has close ties with all three major Abrahamic religions, and it was the first in the region to officially adopt Christianity in the fourth century. Christians account for 63% of the country’s population, with 43.5% belonging to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, 18.5% Protestant and 0.7% Catholic. Ethiopia has the first Hijra in Islamic history and the oldest Muslim settlement on the continent. Muslims account for 34% of the population, traditional 2.7% and other 0.6% [ 13 ].

In Ethiopia there are no data on public perception of organ donation and transplantation Therefore, the present study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitude and willingness of organ donation among medical students. Medical students, as future doctors can take up the role of promoting organ donation by educating and motivating the public to initiate them donate their organs besides their voluntary organ donation. Therefore, assessing medical student’s knowledge, attitude and willingness to donate organ is very important to decrease the shortage of organ in the future.

Study setting and subjects

A cross sectional study was carried out for 3 months from May to July 2019among under graduate medical students in Jimma University after obtaining Institutional Ethical Clearance from institutional review board (IRB) of Jimma University. The University is located in Jimma town which is 352 km from Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Jimma University is one of the most distinguished centers of excellence in medical education in the country.

Sample size

All medical students (from first to internship) registered in the year 2018/2019 were the source population. Based on their training background, medical students in Jimma University were divided into two groups: PRE-CLINICAL and CLINICAL. PRECLINICAL is subdivided in to two groups: Year I (PC-I) and Year II (PC-II) and CLINICAL in to three subgroups Year III(C-I), Year IV(C-II) and internship. The sample size was calculated by using simple proportion formula assuming a prevalence of 50% for knowledge, attitudes and willingness of organ donation, a 95% confidence interval and a sample error of 5%. This was adjusted for 10% non-response rate; bringing the total sample size to 320.There were about 1200 students studying in Jimma University medical school.

The questionnaire was distributed to undergraduate medical students during lecture hours in the classroom and in ward during attachment. They were instructed not to discuss the questions among themselves. The importance of the study was explained and confidentiality regarding the participant response for the questions was ensured.

A 20-item self-administered questionnaire was developed. The first part of the questionnaire gathered the demographic details from the students, which included age, gender, year of study and religion. The second, third and fourth sections assessed the levels of knowledge (Q1–7), attitude (Q8–16) and willingness (Q17–20) to donate organ, respectively.

The students were grouped as those who do have adequate and inadequate knowledge based on their score.

Adequate knowledge is when 4–6 questions were answered correctly and inadequate when less than 4 questions answered correctly out of 6 knowledge questions.

Attitude was assessed by using 9 attitude statements and respondents were categorized as those who do have positive attitude and negative if they agree to 6–9 and less than 6 attitude statements respectively.

Statistical analysis

Data was entered to EPI data and exported to SPSS version 20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics like percentage and mean and standard deviation were used to present socio-demography, knowledge, attitude and willingness response of the participants. Multivariate analysis was used in order to relate those factors that gave a significant result: One way Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to see a significant relationship between one independent variable and dependent variables and two ways MANOVA was considered to know if there was an interaction between two independent variables on the dependent variables. One way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used for comparing means of variables to know among which groups were the differences. Finally, Odds ratio analysis was used to find out variables which were related to a positive attitude towards organ donation.

Out of 320 participants 57.8% were male. Mean (±SD = standard deviation) age of participants was 23.48 ± 17.025 years. Majority of the participants were orthodox (49%.7) and the least percentage being others constituting wakeefeta, apostolic, humanity, atheist and Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) (2.8%) (Table 1 ).

96.9% of the students had awareness about organ donation. Only 25% had knowledge that there was no age limit for organ donation (Table 2 ).

There was a statistically significant difference in level of knowledge between study groups as demonstrated by one-way ANOVA(F (4,315) =7.6, p = 0.001). Based on the post hoc test the significant difference was between PC-I and C-II( p = 0.001), PC-I and intern( p = 0.001), PC-II and C-I( P = 0.022) and PC-II and intern( p = 0.010). The mean for PC-I, PC-II, C-I, C-II and intern is 1.37, 1.27, 1.20, 1.08 and 1.05 respectively. Therefore, PC=I had significantly higher level of knowledge when compared to the rest year of study (Table 3 ).

74.1% of the participants agreed to support family members if they wish to become an organ donor. Majority of the study subjects (91.9%) felt that awareness about organ donation should be made a part of school education (Table 4 ).

According to our finding, males were 1.156 (Odds Ratio = 1.156) times likely to have positive attitude towards to organ donation as compared to female. Students who had an awareness about organ donation were 2.602 (Odds Ratio = 2.602) times likely to have positive attitude towards to organ donation as compared to those who were unaware. The other variables which were related to a positive attitude towards organ donation were: not having a belief on the importance of burying intact body (Odds Ratio = 5.434); knowing definition of brain death (Odds Ratio = 1.257); not having a belief that there is a danger of misuse, abuse or misappropriation of donated organ (Odds Ratio = 2.777); willingness to donate blood (Odds Ratio = 4.813); and willingness to donate organ (Odds Ratio = 19.424).

58.1% of the study participants were willing to donate their organs and allow organ donation after the death of a family member. Majority of the study subjects (88.4%) did not like to take money for organ donation. 90.3% of the study subjects were willing to donate blood and 58.1% were willing to donate their organ (Table 5 ) (Fig. 1 ).

Distribution of study subjects according to the source of information about organ donations. i.e. Note: No of respondents may be greater than sample size as multiple options were allowed. Most common source of information about organ donation was found to be internet (61%) television (50%) followed by, Movies and health care providers 46 and 45% respectively

There were an association between willingness and attitude. Willingness to donate organ was significantly higher among those who do have positive attitude (88.2%) as compared to those with negative attitude (11.8%) (Table 6 ).

There was a statistically significant difference on belief of burying intact body between religions as demonstrated by one-way ANOVA(F (3,316) =4.5, p = .004). Based on the post hoc test the significant difference was between Protestant and Muslim ( p = .007). The mean for protestant is 1.83 and Muslim 1.56.Therefore, Protestant had significantly higher belief on the importance of burying intact body when compared to Muslim (Table 7 ).

There was a statistically significant difference between males and females when knowledge questions considered jointly Wilk’s Λ = .96, F (6,312) = 2.247, P = 0.039, multivariate ƞ 2 = 0.041 and attitude statements consider jointly Wilk’s Λ = .94, F (9,310) = 2.301, P = 0.016, multivariate ƞ 2 = 0.063.

When year of study is considered, there was a statistically significant difference among year of studies when knowledge questions considered jointly Wilk’s Λ = .75, F (25,079) = 3.966, P < 0.001, multivariate ƞ 2 = .071, attitude statements considered jointly Wilk’s Λ = .77, F (37,152) = .766, P < 0.001, multivariate ƞ 2 = .065 and willingness questions considered jointly Wilk’s Λ = .93, F (12,828) = 2.072, P = 0.017, multivariate ƞ 2 = .026.

Two way MANOVA was considered to know if there was an interaction between two independent variables on the dependent variables. There was a statistically significant interaction effect between gender and year of study on the combined knowledge questions (dependent variables) F (25,062) = 1.755, P = 0.014, Wilk’s Λ = .033.

Knowledge of the participant

Organ failure and shortage of donated organs are global problem. Among 100,000 of people died each year are believed to be potential donors; however, only less than 200 actually become donors [ 9 ]. The widespread shortage of donated organs indicates that there is low donor rate worldwide; In Ethiopia there is no data on rate of organ donation. In 2017 Spain had the highest donor rate in the world at 46.9 per million people, followed by Portugal (34.0 per million), Belgium (33.6 per million), Croatia (33.0 per million) and the US (32.0 per million) [ 14 ]. Donated organs are the major pre-requisite for consistency of organ transplantation program; one of the solutions to increase organ supply is to assess public knowledge, attitude and willingness towards organ donation and taking an action based on the data. In our country there is no study done on people’s perception towards organ donation this background pledges us to conduct this study.

In our study 96.9% of the participants heard about organ donation which is similar to study done by Annadurai et al and Jothula et al. [ 15 , 16 ] both reported that 100% of the participants were aware about organ donation.74.1% of the participants were aware about the meaning of organ donation which is relatively higher than the study done by Annadurai et al. [ 15 ]. In the present study, level of knowledge was significantly higher among PC=I (year I) students as compared to the other year of study this finding was similar to study done among undergraduate dental students of Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences and Hospital, which showed higher average knowledge among first-year students [ 17 ]. In this study, only 82.5%of medical students had adequate knowledge about organ donation which is relatively higher than the study done on final semester medical students by Karini et al. which showed that only 56% of them were having adequate knowledge [ 18 ].

In the present study the main sources of information about organ donation was found to be internet (61%) and television (50%).This was similar to study conducted in USA and Australia [ 19 , 20 ]. However; Similar findings were observed by Sindhu et al. and Jothula KY et al. [ 16 , 21 ]. The third source of information about organ donation in our study are health care providers (45%) which is relatively higher than the study done by Annadurai et al. [ 15 ] which reported 34.1%. this finding showed that health care providers are playing undeniable role in creating awareness towards organ donation in Ethiopia.

206(64.4%) of our study participants had identified all the organs that can be donated. This finding was higher than the study done by Annadurai et al. [ 15 ] and Karini et al. [ 18 ] which reported 16.1 and 26% respectively. In the present study 80(25%) of the students knew that there is no age limit for organ donation which is approximate to Sucharitha et al. and lower than Jothula KY et al. [ 16 , 22 ].

Attitude of medical students regarding organ donation

201(62.8%) of our study subjects have a positive attitude towards organ donation which is lower than the study in Spain and India which found 80 and 71.3% respectively [ 23 , 24 ]. 91.9% of this study subjects, felt that awareness about organ donation should be included in school curriculum which is similar to Adithyan et al. reported that 91.2% of the subjects felt the need for revision of medical curriculum on organ donation [ 25 ] Our study found out that 251(78.4%) of the study subjects would like to motivate others for organ donation which is lower than to the Vinay et al [ 26 ].

77(24.1%) of our study subjects belief that person’s body should be intact when buried A study in USA reported that 8% of participants strongly agree and 11.7% agree to this statement which is almost similar to our finding [ 19 ]. In our study being of the male sex (Odds Ratio = 1.156) was related to a favorable attitude towards to organ donation; in contrast, a study done in Spain reported that being of females sex (Odds Ratio = 1.739) was related to a favorable attitude [ 23 ]. In our study not having a belief on the importance of burying intact body (Odds Ratio = Ratio = 5.434) was one of the variables which affect positive attitude towards to organ donation which was similar to a study in USA [ 19 ]. A study done in Spain reported being a blood donor (OR = 2.824) as a variable related to a positive attitude towards to organ donation similarly in our study we found out willingness to donate blood (Odds Ratio = 4.813) as a variable to a favorable attitude.

Willingness of medical students to donate organ

In this study 186(58.1%) of the study participants were willing to donate their organ which is similar to a study done in USA [ 20 ] and lower than Payghan et al. and Vinay et al revealed that almost 90% of study participants were willing to donate their organs [ 26 , 27 ]. The present study found out that there is a significant association between attitude regarding organ donation and willingness to donate organs which is different from the finding by Ali et al. and by Dasgupta et al. [ 28 , 29 ] which reported that there was a significant association between attitude and knowledge acquired. Though taking money for organ donation is unethical 11.6% of our study participants would like to take money for organ donation which was higher than study by Jothula KY et al. [ 16 ].

Though most of the students had adequate knowledge, still gaps exist in their attitude and willingness. This implies the need for an intensified and sustained education to raise attitude and willingness of the students towards organ donation.

Recommendations

Most of the students (91.9%) felt that awareness about organ donation should be made a part of school education; until it included in school curriculum, we recommend the students to acquire an adequate knowledge by themselves; In our study the most common source of information about organ donation was internet; so, they can browse more to acquire additional knowledge and make informed decision.

Availability of data and materials

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Abbreviations

Analysis of variance

Clinical-II

End-stage kidney disease

Institutional Review Board

Jimma University Medical College

Multivariate analysis of variance

Pre-clinical-I

Pre-clinical-II

Seventh Day Adventist

Statistical Package for Social Sciences

United States of America

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Acknowledgements

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The study was funded with the support of Jimma University; Faculty of Health Science. The funding body has no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript.

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Fantu Kerga Dibaba, Kabaye Kumela Goro, Fanta Gashe Fufa, Aster Wakjira Garedow & Eshetu Mulisa Bobasa

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FKD, EMB, KKG, ADW, FGF, AWG, BET involved in the data collection. FKD analyze the data and FKD and EMB prepared the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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The study protocol was approved by the institutional review board (IRB) of Jimma University, College of Health Sciences and ethical clearance was obtained with the Reference Number IHRPGD/3019/2019. Permission of data collection was granted with formal letter from chief executive director of Jimma University Medical College (JUMC). The purpose and protocol of this study was explained, participants signed informed written consent.

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Dibaba, F.K., Goro, K.K., Wolide, A.D. et al. Knowledge, attitude and willingness to donate organ among medical students of Jimma University, Jimma Ethiopia: cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health 20 , 799 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08931-y

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Received : 19 September 2019

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Published : 27 May 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-08931-y

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Organ Donor Research : Overcoming Challenges, Increasing Opportunities

1 University of Virginia, Charlottesville

A substantial gap exists between the need for organ transplants and the number of transplants performed each year in the United States. In 2016, 27 630 organs were transplanted from 9971 deceased donors and 5980 additional organs from living donors, but as of September 29, 2017, a total of 116 602 individuals were included on the nation’s organ transplant wait lists. 1 This gap remains despite increases in the number of both donated organs and organ transplants in recent years. In 2015, close to 5000 organs from deceased donors were discarded because they were deemed unsuitable for transplantation. 1

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Organ Donation for Social Change: A Systematic Review

First Online: 07 January 2020

Cite this chapter

Amani Alsalem 2 ,
Park Thaichon 2 &
Scott Weaven 2

Part of the book series: Contributions to Management Science ((MANAGEMENT SC.))

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2 Citations

This chapter presents a critical review of the existing organ donation literature. The objective of this chapter is to identify the main gaps in the current body of literature on the organ donation context and the marketing discipline. This chapter initially discusses social marketing within the context of organ donation for social change. Following on, this chapter provides a systematic quantitative literature review of the existing organ donation studies from the period of 1985–2019. Then, this chapter details and discusses the review method. The literature review findings include the geographical distribution of 262 peer-reviewed organ donation studies around the world; the frequency of published articles over the period 1985–2019; the disciplinary scope of these studies; the sample characteristics; and the key theories and models used to inform organ donation studies. Finally, this chapter concludes with a discussion of the main limitations of existing organ donation studies.

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Alsalem, A., Thaichon, P., Weaven, S. (2020). Organ Donation for Social Change: A Systematic Review. In: Ratten, V. (eds) Entrepreneurship and Organizational Change. Contributions to Management Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35415-2_6

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Research Reports

2019 national survey of organ donation attitudes and practices.

The 2019 National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Practices measured public opinion about organ donation and transplantation. This survey was completed by 10,000 U.S. adults. Key findings include:

People’s support for organ donation.
If they have signed up to be an organ donor and where.
Talking to family members about organ donation and their wish.
Beliefs about organ donation and transplantation.
If they want their organs used locally or wherever they are needed most.
Where they got their information on organ donation in the past year.

View and download the 2019 National Survey report (PDF - 3 MB) .

Supplemental Tables

Binary Response Tables (XLSX - 459 KB) – Frequency tables with data bars/color coding in the 2019 National Survey report. 
Supplemental Tables (XLSX - 196 KB)   – Non-frequency tables in the 2019 National Survey report.
Full Response Tables (XLSX - 510 KB) – Proportions and confidence intervals for every response option for all 86 key survey questions.

Listen to/watch a webinar recording on key findings of the survey. Slides from the webinar (PDF - 697 KB) are also available.

Note: If you are using assistive technology, you may not be able to fully see all of the information in this PDF file. The Excel file with it has the same information for the National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Practices, 2019: Report of Findings. For help, please email [email protected] or call 301-443-3300.

2012 National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Behaviors

This report details the findings of the 2012 survey of the American public’s attitudes and behaviors about organ donation.

View and download the 2012 National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Behaviors (PDF - 1 MB) report.

Worldwide barriers to organ donation

Affiliations.

1 Neurocritical Care Unit and Stroke Department, Hospital Copa D'Or, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2 Cerebrovascular Center of the Neurological Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio.
PMID: 25402335
DOI: 10.1001/jamaneurol.2014.3083

Importance: The disparity between patients awaiting organ transplantation and organ availability increases each year. As a consequence, organ trafficking has emerged and developed into a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry.

Objective: To identify and address barriers to organ donation in the United States and globally.

Evidence review: Evidence-based peer-reviewed articles, including prospective and retrospective cohort studies, as well as case series and reports were identified in a PubMed search of organ donation, barriers to organ donation, brain death, donation after cardiac death, and organ trafficking. Additional Internet searches were conducted of national and international transplant and organ donation websites and US Department of Health of Health and Human Services websites. Citation publication dates ranged from August 1, 1968, through June 28, 2014.

Findings: The lack of standardization of brain death and organ donation criteria worldwide contributes to a loss of potential donors. Major barriers to donation include variable clinical and legal definitions of brain death; inconsistent legal upholding of brain death criteria; racial, ethnic, and religious perspectives on organ donation; and physician discomfort and community misunderstanding of the process of donation after cardiac death. Limited international legislation and oversight of organ donation and transplant has contributed to the dilemma of organ trafficking.

Conclusions and relevance: An urgent need exists for a global standard on the definition of brain death and donation after death by cardiac criteria to better regulate organ donation and maximize transplantation rates. Unified standards may have a positive effect on limiting organ trafficking.

Publication types

Attitude to Health*
Global Health
Tissue and Organ Procurement* / methods
Tissue and Organ Procurement* / standards
United States

Organ Donation: Importance Information Research Paper

Organ transplant is a form of surgery in which an injured, diseased, or damaged body organ is removed from a patient and replaced with a healthy organ, which has been donated (Elgert 4). This concept emerged in the 19 th century and has been practiced for a long time now (about 50 years now). Majorly, several vital body organs can be transplanted.

The most common body organs being transplanted today include the heart, liver, kidney, and lungs (Elgert 4). Across the globe, more than 1 million organ transplants happen every year with the US performing more than 20,000 cases. Today, the success rates of organ transplants have been on the increase although donors are reducing drastically.

Just like any other surgery, organ transplantation has some risks and complications. Some of the most common complications include infections, excessive bleeding, and damages (Elgert 32). For instance, in kidney transplantation, the urethra may be damaged when the doctor is carrying out the surgery (NHS Organ Donor).

Because of such complications, the patient may not survival for long and hence the process is deemed not successful. The ability to reduce complications and ensure that organ transplantation happens in a success manner may increase the chances of a patient surviving; this is what is known as successful surgery.

Success rates refer to the percentage of all organ transplantation surgeries that produce favorable outcomes (Elgert 35). The success rates of organ transplant surgery have increased and improved in a big way.

However, despite of these remarkable improvements, there is also a growing demand for organs and tissues as the supply has been going down every day. Because of the growing shortage of body organ, many needy patients do not have adequate supply and as a result, there are many situations where patients are dying before they get willing donors.

Because of the improved and advanced technology, the practice of organ transplant is becoming more popular and acceptable in the society. Currently, the advancement in technology has contributed to improved ways of preserving organs and better surgical methods in the health care (Elgert 67). Notably, better and improved health care has contributed to increase in success rates of organ and tissue transplant across the world.

According to research, the success rates of organ transplant have improved in a big way. In fact, Sir Madgi Yacoub a senior researcher at a donations center describes the practice of organ transfer as “one of the greatest success stories of the latter half of the 20 th century (NHS Organ Donor).

This has greatly been attributed to the advanced technology and quality patience care. The UK organ transplants statistics show that, transplants surgery have been increasing every year.

To demonstrate this facts, the newly released report on organ transplants reveal that at least 94 per cent of kidney donors are still leaving very healthy, more than 88 per cent of transplanted kidneys from people who are dead are running and functioning healthy, 86 per cent of liver transfers are still performing well, and 84 per cent of all heart transfers are still doing well too (NHS Organ Donor).

According to this report, many factors have contributed to increase in successful rates of organ transplants. One of the factors is the improved patient management, which is getting better every year (NHS Organ Donor).

Recently, the center of Scientific Registry of Transplant (SRTR) provided data concerning the success rates of patients who have received organ transplant in the US (New York Organ Donor Network, Inc).

According to (SRTR) research center, the survival of patients who have already received organ transplant is deemed as the best measure of assessing the success rates of transplant. Indeed, by focusing closely on the data provided, it is evident that the success rates have increased over the years as portrayed by the “history and success rate of organ transplantation” (Hakim and Vassilios 7).

The history of organ transfer will further prove how the success rates of organ transplantations have improved in the recent years. In the year 1999, the number of individuals who required organ transplant stood at 55, 000 people (Hakim and Vassilios 47). However, today the demand for this service has increased over the years since more people have developed trust with this practice after witnessing high level of success rates.

Because of the improved rates, many patients have been demanding for this service. According to experts, “improved survival rates and the expectation that organ replacement will enhance quality of life encouraged more doctors and their patients with organ failure to opt for transplantation” (Hakim and Vassilios 241).

According to history, the practice of organ transplant is a concept that started a few decades ago. The first successful organ transplant took place in the 1954 where a patient received a kidney transplant in the US (Hakim and Vassilios 97).

In 1967, the first case of heart transplant took place in South Africa and the heart function was effective for 18 days (Patel and Rushefsky 34). In the year 1981, a successful heart transfer showed some improvement where a patient who received a heart transfer survived for 5 years.

During 1990s, the practice of transplantation surgery became more popular and more than 2,500 heart transplants were performed in the US alone (Patel and Rushefsky 65). Along with cases of heart transfer, increased cases of other organ transplants were reported around the globe. In the year 1997, the record of success in organ transplantation went high.

For kidney transplants, a statics record of 95 per cent survival rates was recorded in a period of one year (Patel and Rushefsky, 2002). To demonstrate the increase in the survival rates of organs transfer, a study by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) portrayed an impressive improvement from 7 per cent to 12 per cent successful rates of lung, heart, and liver transplants between the year 1992 and 1994 (Patel and Rushefsky 22).

This and many similar investigations have proved that the success rates of organ transplant vary from one transplant centre to another (Patel and Rushefsky, 42). Notably, centers that have had low success rates are those centers, which have been reported to carry out a small number of organ transplants (Patel and Rushefsky, 55).

On the other hand, transfer centers that carry out large numbers of organ transplants have been reported to produce statistical numbers showing high success rates. Over the years, this level of successful rates have increased for both low-volume and high volume transplant centers. For both centers, an increase success rate of 50 per cent has been recorded in the recent years (Patel and Rushefsky, 79).

Towards the start of this decade, major developments have taken place in the health care institutions. As such, success rates have also improved and many patients are now being refereed for these vital services (Elgert 4).

Because of the ever-growing demand, many countries around the world are also creating new organ transplant centers. However, with the increased successful rates of organ transplants, there has been reduced supply of organs (Egendorf 14). It has been reported that, the demand for donor organs has also increased, as people are not willing to donate their organs.

Among the many factors that have contributed to improved success rates of transplants is the issue of innovations. The positive technological innovation is an improvement, which has led to more patients surviving. This is precisely because with innovations, modern and better preservation methods have also developed.

As such, donated organs are preserved well therefore reducing chances of organ failure once implanted into the recipient. Another factor that has contributed to improved success rates is the improvements in surgical technique (New York Organ Donor Network, Inc). Progress in this area has also contributed to improvement in success rates of organ transfer as the operation surgeons are carryout an excellent job.

On the other hand, a continuous decline in the supply of donors has been observed for the last five years. Doctors have reported that, the reduced supply of organs from donors can have “resulted in a widening gap between the number of organs available for transplant, and the number of patients who are waiting for donor organs” (New York Organ Donor Network, Inc).

In this report, it has been noted that, the number of living donors increased a great deal between the year 1999 and 2004, but the numbers started decreasing drastically by the end of 2004 (Egendorf 51).

Despite the challenges and the issue of organ shortage, we can see light at the end of the tunnel. In providing a solution, a study has revealed that “the market place for immunosuppressive” is most likely to grow and expand for next 5 years from now (New York Organ Donor Network, Inc). This market is likely to expand because of the fact that, new transplant centers are being developed considering that survival rates have gone up significantly.

In summary, it is evidently clear that the success rates of organ transplantation have increased considerably over the years. Towards the start of this decade, major developments have taken place in the health care sector.

Among the many changes that have taken place, advanced technology has been the most fundamental change, which has contributed to increased chances of survival among the patients receiving organ transplant and therefore bringing positive outcomes.

Several governmental and non-governmental organizations have done extensive research with an aim of investigating the success rates of organ transplantation in the recent days.

According to the findings from different organizations like United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), it has been revealed that there is a general improvement in the success rates especially from the year 2000 onwards.

On the other hand, with the increase in the success rates, there is a growing demand for organ donors because there is a shortage in supply of organs in the market (Egendorf 75). However, despite this shortage, the market is anticipated to improve in the future days, as people are developing confidence due to increased survival rates.

Works Cited

Elgert, Klaus. Immunology: Understanding the Immune System . New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons, 2009. Print.

Egendorf, Laura. Organ Donation . San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2009. Print.

Hakim, Nadey and Vassilios Papalois. History of Organ and Cell Transplantation . London: Imperial College Press, 2003. Print.

New York Organ Donor Network, Inc. Donation . 2011. Web.

NHS Organ Donor. Success rates . 2011. Web.

Patel, Kant and Mark Rushefsky. Healthcare Policy in an Age of New Technologies . Carlifornia: M.E. Sharpe, 2002. Print.

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IvyPanda. (2024, January 5). Organ Donation: Importance Information. https://ivypanda.com/essays/organ-donation/

"Organ Donation: Importance Information." IvyPanda , 5 Jan. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/organ-donation/.

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Organ donation: Don’t let these myths confuse you

Mayo Clinic Staff

Myth: If I agree to donate my organs, the hospital staff won't work as hard to save my life.

Fact: When you go to the hospital for treatment, healthcare professionals focus on saving your life — not somebody else's. You'll receive care from healthcare professionals whose expertise most closely matches your condition and who can give you the best care possible.

Myth: Maybe I won't really be dead when they sign my death certificate.

Fact: Although it's a popular topic in the tabloids, in reality, people don't start to wiggle their toes after they're declared dead. People who have agreed to organ donation are given more tests to determine that they're truly dead than those who haven't agreed to organ donation. These extra tests are done at no charge to their families.

Myth: Organ donation is against my religion.

Fact: Organ donation is consistent with the beliefs of most major religions. These religions include Roman Catholicism, Islam, most branches of Judaism and most Protestant faiths. If you're unsure of or uncomfortable with your faiths position on organ donation, ask your clergy member.

Myth: I'm under 18. I'm too young to make this decision.

Fact: Many states allow people younger than 18 to register as organ donors, but the final decision will remain the responsibility of your parents or legal guardian. Discuss your wish to become an organ donor with your family, and ask for their consent. Keep in mind that children need organ transplants, and they usually need organs smaller than those an adult can provide.

Myth: An open-casket funeral isn't an option for people who have donated organs or tissues.

Fact: Organ and tissue donation doesn't interfere with having an open-casket funeral. The donor's body is clothed for burial and treated with care and respect, and there are no visible signs of organ or tissue donation.

Myth: I'm too old to donate. Nobody would want my organs.

Fact: There's no defined cutoff age for donating organs. The decision to use your organs is based on strict medical criteria, not age. Don't prematurely disqualify yourself. Let the doctors decide at the time of your death whether your organs and tissues are suitable for transplantation.

Myth: I'm not in the best of health. Nobody would want my organs or tissues.

Fact: Few medical conditions automatically disqualify you from donating organs. Again, the decision to use an organ is based on strict medical criteria. It may turn out that certain organs aren't able to be transplanted, but other organs and tissues may be fine. Don't prematurely disqualify yourself. Only medical professionals at the time of your death can determine whether your organs can be transplanted.

Myth: I'd like to donate one of my kidneys now, but I wouldn't be allowed to do that unless one of my family members is in need.

Fact: While that used to be the case, it isn't any longer. Whether it's a distant family member, friend or stranger you want to help, you can donate a kidney through certain transplant centers as what is known as a living donor.

If you decide to become a living donor, you will undergo extensive questioning to ensure that you know the risks and that your decision to donate isn't based on financial gain. You also will undergo testing to determine if your kidneys are in good shape and whether you can live a healthy life with just one kidney.

Myth: Rich and famous people go to the top of the list when they need a donor organ.

Fact: The rich and famous aren't given priority when it comes to allocating organs. It may seem that way because of the amount of publicity generated when a celebrity receives a transplant, but they are treated no differently than anyone else. In reality, celebrity and financial status are not considered in organ allocation.

Myth: My family will be charged if I donate my organs.

Fact: The organ donor's family is never charged for donation. The family is charged for the costs of all final efforts to save your life, and those are sometimes misinterpreted as costs related to organ donation. Costs for organ recovery go to the transplant recipient.

Becoming an organ donor is easy. You can indicate that you want to be a donor in these ways:

Register with your state's donor registry. Most states have registries. Check the list at organdonor.gov .
Designate your choice on your driver's license. Do this when you obtain or renew your license.
Tell your family. Make sure your family knows your wishes regarding donation.

The best way to ensure that your wishes are carried out is to register with your state's organ donation registry and include donor designation on your driver's license or state ID. Taking these steps legally authorizes your organ donation upon death.

If you have designated someone to make healthcare decisions for you if you become unable to do so, make sure that person knows that you want to be an organ donor. You also may include your wishes in your living will if you have one, but that paperwork might not be immediately available at the time of your death.

It's also important to tell your family you want to be a donor. Hospitals seek consent from the next of kin before removing organs, although this isn't required if you're registered with your state's donor registry or have donor designation on your driver's license or state ID card.

Jason Beckermann, M.D. , is a surgeon in Eau Claire , Wisconsin. Anja Grogseth is the donor liaison in Red Wing , Minnesota, and Angi Grimm is the donor liaison in La Crosse , Wisconsin.

This article first published on the Mayo Clinic Health System blog .

Related Resources:

Mayo Clinic Minute: What is a living donor chain?
Type 2 diabetes no longer a barrier to becoming a living kidney donor
Could CAR-T cell therapy improve kidney transplants?
In case you missed it: This week’s Top 5 stories on social media Mayo Clinic virologist offers perspective on avian influenza, bird flu, outbreak

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Growing our donated organ supply

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Hammaad Adam poses in front of a window. A brick building with large windows is behind him.

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For those in need of one, an organ transplant is a matter of life and death.

Every year, the medical procedure gives thousands of people with advanced or end-stage diseases extended life. This “second chance” is heavily dependent on the availability, compatibility, and proximity of a precious resource that can’t be simply bought, grown, or manufactured — at least not yet.

Instead, organs must be given — cut from one body and implanted into another. And because living organ donation is only viable in certain cases, many organs are only available for donation after the donor’s death.

Unsurprisingly, the logistical and ethical complexity of distributing a limited number of transplant organs to a growing wait list of patients has received much attention. There’s an important part of the process that has received less focus, however, and which may hold significant untapped potential: organ procurement itself.

“If you have a donated organ, who should you give it to? This question has been extensively studied in operations research, economics, and even applied computer science,” says Hammaad Adam , a graduate student in the Social and Engineering Systems (SES) doctoral program at the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). “But there’s been a lot less research on where that organ comes from in the first place.”

In the United States, nonprofits called organ procurement organizations, or OPOs, are responsible for finding and evaluating potential donors, interacting with grieving families and hospital administrations, and recovering and delivering organs — all while following the federal laws that serve as both their mandate and guardrails. Recent studies estimate that obstacles and inefficiencies lead to thousands of organs going uncollected every year, even as the demand for transplants continues to grow.

“There’s been little transparent data on organ procurement,” argues Adam. Working with MIT computer science professors Marzyeh Ghassemi and Ashia Wilson , and in collaboration with stakeholders in organ procurement, Adam led a project to create a dataset called ORCHID: Organ Retrieval and Collection of Health Information for Donation . ORCHID contains a decade of clinical, financial, and administrative data from six OPOs.

“Our goal is for the ORCHID database to have an impact in how organ procurement is understood, internally and externally,” says Ghassemi.

Efficiency and equity

It was looking to make an impact that drew Adam to SES and MIT. With a background in applied math and experience in strategy consulting, solving problems with technical components sits right in his wheelhouse.

“I really missed challenging technical problems from a statistics and machine learning standpoint,” he says of his time in consulting. “So I went back and got a master’s in data science, and over the course of my master’s got involved in a bunch of academic research projects in a few different fields, including biology, management science, and public policy. What I enjoyed most were some of the more social science-focused projects that had immediate impact.”

As a grad student in SES, Adam’s research focuses on using statistical tools to uncover health-care inequities, and developing machine learning approaches to address them. “Part of my dissertation research focuses on building tools that can improve equity in clinical trials and other randomized experiments,” he explains.

One recent example of Adam’s work : developing a novel method to stop clinical trials early if the treatment has an unintended harmful effect for a minority group of participants. “I’ve also been thinking about ways to increase minority representation in clinical trials through improved patient recruitment,” he adds.

Racial inequities in health care extend into organ transplantation, where a majority of wait-listed patients are not white — far in excess of their demographic groups’ proportion to the overall population. There are fewer organ donations from many of these communities, due to various obstacles in need of better understanding if they are to be overcome.

“My work in organ transplantation began on the allocation side,” explains Adam. “In work under review, we examined the role of race in the acceptance of heart, liver, and lung transplant offers by physicians on behalf of their patients. We found that Black race of the patient was associated with significantly lower odds of organ offer acceptance — in other words, transplant doctors seemed more likely to turn down organs offered to Black patients. This trend may have multiple explanations, but it is nevertheless concerning.”

Adam’s research has also found that donor-candidate race match was associated with significantly higher odds of offer acceptance, an association that Adam says “highlights the importance of organ donation from racial minority communities, and has motivated our work on equitable organ procurement.”

Working with Ghassemi through the IDSS Initiative on Combatting Systemic Racism , Adam was introduced to OPO stakeholders looking to collaborate. “It’s this opportunity to impact not only health-care efficiency, but also health-care equity, that really got me interested in this research,” says Adam.

Making an impact

Creating a database like ORCHID means solving problems in multiple domains, from the technical to the political. Some efforts never overcome the first step: getting data in the first place. Thankfully, several OPOs were already seeking collaborations and looking to improve their performance.

“We have been lucky to have a strong partnership with the OPOs, and we hope to work together to find important insights to improve efficiency and equity,” says Ghassemi.

The value of a database like ORCHID is in its potential for generating new insights, especially through quantitative analysis with statistics and computing tools like machine learning. The potential value in ORCHID was recognized with an MIT Prize for Open Data , an MIT Libraries award highlighting the importance and impact of research data that is openly shared.

“It’s nice that the work got some recognition,” says Adam of the prize. “And it was cool to see some of the other great open data work that's happening at MIT. I think there's real impact in releasing publicly available data in an important and understudied domain.”

All the same, Adam knows that building the database is only the first step.

“I'm very interested in understanding the bottlenecks in the organ procurement process,” he explains. “As part of my thesis research, I’m exploring this by modeling OPO decision-making using causal inference and structural econometrics.”

Using insights from this research, Adam also aims to evaluate policy changes that can improve both equity and efficiency in organ procurement. “And we’re hoping to recruit more OPOs, and increase the amount of data we’re releasing,” he says. “The dream state is every OPO joins our collaboration and provides updated data every year.”

Adam is excited to see how other researchers might use the data to address inefficiencies in organ procurement. “Every organ donor saves between three and four lives,” he says. “So every research project that comes out of this dataset could make a real impact.”

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Research paper organ donation

Related Papers

This paper emphasizes the importance of swap transplants for living donor and recipient incompatible pairs. Swapping living donors for getting most compatible organs for the recipients has given hope to a number of donor recipient incompatible pairs across the world including India. Such donations ensure the recipients of living donor organs receive most compatible organs by swapping donors. This paper offers a glimpse of Indian scenario on swap transplantation. While challenging social, religious and political boundaries created by humans such swaps have united people and professionals across nations. This paper briefly describes Simple Living Donor Exchange Domino Transplant, Altruistic Donor Initiated Domino Transplant and Recipient Facilitated Domino Transplant. This paper enumerates the advantages of swap and domino transplant and describes briefly domino heart, domino liver and domino kidney transplantation. This paper deliberates on simultaneous and non-simultaneous domino kidney transplantation and persuades all states to adopt THOA amendments 2011 so that the benefit of swap transplantation reaches to all incompatible donor recipient pairs all over the country. This paper identifies some challenges for making swap or paired donation possible in all the states and union territories. Keywords: Swap Transplant, Domino Transplant, Simple Donor Exchange Domino Transplantation, Altruistic Donor Initiated Domino Transplant, Recipient Facilitated Domino Transplant., Domino Liver Transplant, Domino Kidney Transplant, Domino Heart Transplant.

The South African Journal of Bioethics and Law

Prof Magda Slabbert , Bonnie Venter

Modern medicine makes it possible to transplant not only kidneys but any solid organs from one human body to another. Although it is the ideal to harvest organs from a brain-dead person, a kidney or a part of the liver or lung can be transplanted from a living donor to a patient. The majority of countries where organ transplants are performed have a dire need for transplantable organs as the current systems of organ procurement are not obtaining a sufficient amount of transplantable organs. Today’s cruel reality is that many patients are dying while waiting for a transplant. Few nations are able to meet the organ demand through their domestic transplant systems and there is a constant debate about ethical ways of procuring organs for transplantation purposes. This article will scrutinise the Israeli system of organ procurement and it will be compared with the current system of organ donation in South Africa (SA) in order to indicate whether SA could possibly, or should, follow the example of Israel to improve its acute donor organ shortage.

This paper talks about psychodynamic theory of psychology wherein individuals adopt various defense mechanisms in order to cope with unpleasant thoughts, emotions or behaviors while dealing with multifaceted processes of organ donation and transplantation. Organ donation from brain stem dead donors and transplantation involves certain psychological defense mechanisms like sublimation, introjections, projection, intellectualization, and denial that are explained through a few case studies of organ donor families, non-donor families, recipients of organs, families of recipients, organ transplant coordinators and doctors. The author discusses how individuals behave in different ways in order to deal with the unpleasant thoughts, emotions or behaviors that are intertwined with intricate debates, dilemmas and convolutions of organ donation and transplantation especially from brain stem dead donors. The organs donated by brain stem dead donors are used for transplantation into people struggling for life with end stage organ failures. The paper represents the narratives of individuals through diagrams that explain the nature of defense mechanisms adopted by people and professionals in organ donation and transplantation. Through these case studies the author wants the authorities to focus on issues that could resolve some problems that are encountered in day to day activities by professionals especially organ transplant coordinators in India. There are a number of areas wherein government needs to put efforts like making easy permissions from police, preventing double permission from police as is required in Medico Legal Cases if the accident has happened in one place and the organ retrieval at the other. There is a dire need to start extensive awareness programmes in all related ministries. The government needs to be sensitive to the plight of poor people who wait for long hours to get back the body once they decide to donate organs in Govt. hospitals. They deserve some care in government hospitals during waiting period. Some budgetary provisions needs to be made for the same. One of the very important things is to introduce a topic on defense mechanisms in organ transplant coordinators course to make them

priyanshu jain

In the case of kidney transplantation, there is always a serious imbalance between the number of kidneys donated for transplantation and the number of persons wishing to receive a transplant. This not only affects the quality of life of those unable to obtain a transplant, but it also has important repercussions on the treatment of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) by transplantation. Most transplanted kidneys are from cadavers, but there are also many transplants from live donors. Recently, there have started to be kidney exchanges involving two donor-patient pairs such that each donor cannot give a kidney to the intended recipient because of immunological incompatibility, but each patient can receive a kidney from the other donor. Exchanges are also made in which a donor-patient pair makes a donation to someone waiting for a cadaver kidney, in return for the patient in the pair receiving high priority for a compatible cadaver kidney when one becomes available. There are strict legal constraints on how exchanges can be conducted. This project will explore how larger scale exchanges of these kinds can be arranged efficiently and incentive compatibly, within existing constraints that would result in the substantial welfare gains from larger scale exchange, both in increased number of feasible live donation transplants, and in improved match quality of transplanted kidneys.

ABSTRACT This paper describes the importance of National Organ and Tissue Donor Register for increasing organ and tissue donation in the country akin to developed countries like USA and UK .It is yet to be initiated at national level in India. It highlights the increased potential of organ and tissue donation in India owing to the increased number of fatal road traffic accidents half of whom end up with brain stem death. Many of these brain stem dead patients could be potential donors for organs as well as tissues to patients in need, provided their wishes are registered in organ and tissue donor register. This paper explains the legal framework pertaining to the expressed will of the donor in India, the various opt-in mechanisms like pledging to donate organs and tissues as well as introduction of mandatory choice in driving licenses. Moreover, this paper mentions the various challenges India faces like integration of data from different networks or organizations of the country in one common electronic register; initiating waiting list registry and follow up registry of recipients; strong IEC campaigning; building and sustaining trust of people; besides taking policy level decisions whether to encourage reciprocity or allow free ridership. This paper also suggests creating opt-out mechanisms in the national organ and tissue donor register.

Transplantation Proceedings

D. Gürdamar , K. Ersoy

This paper draws a parallel of Maslow hierarchy of needs with organ donation and transplantation and illustrates how these needs i.e., physiological, security, love and belongingness, self-esteem and self-actualization are inter-dependent, interlinked and entrenched in both living as well as deceased organ donation and transplantation. The paper illustrates the nuances of inter-linkages of need satisfaction of people and professionals in organ donation and transplantation. With some case studies, it draws attention to the plight of impoverished people and insecure women who are exploited or intimidated into donating organs for meeting their physiological and security needs in class stratified and gender insensitive social milieu respectively. It however, reveres the acts of donation of organs by relatives of deceased donors who allow donation of organs from Brain Stem Dead donors in India and illustrates how security needs of these families are met through the most powerful and altruistic act of organ donation that gives life to a number of people fighting end stage organ failures. The paper traces new expectations of love and belongingness in the form of organ donation and discusses role reversal of females even on Rakshabandan, a Hindu festival that celebrates love and affection between a sister and a brother. The sisters risk their lives and gift their organs to give a fresh lease of life to their brothers. Drawing attention to the forth level of needs, the paper discusses the plight of some vulnerable people who end up donating organs for gratification of their self-esteem needs in contrast to transplantation community who seek gratification of the same need through transplantation and influencing law making process in context of both living and deceased donation. It admires the gratification of self-actualization needs of a number of people who pledge to donate tissues, organs as well as the bodies after death/Brain Stem Death. India being a progressive country in organ donation and transplantation, this paper reveals how some professionals having satisfied all other basic needs, spend their own money and work tirelessly for pushing ahead the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) under the aegis of National Organ Transplant Programme(NOTP ) in the country.

Hakan Ertin

Advances in surgery and the introduction of drugs that suppress the immune system have paved the way for transplantation medicine. Today, the donation and transplantation of tissues and organs (including heart, kidney, liver, lung, pancreas, cornea, bone marrow, and face) are feasible. Transplantation medicine has created new areas of ethical and legal discussion. In these discussions, four principles generally accepted in medical ethics – beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice – have featured in their different aspects. In particular, the principles of non-maleficence and autonomy can collide. The dramatic increase in the number of people waiting for an organ shows that any deadlock on this subject means the death of many; hence, it is important to find a solution appropriate to the values held in society. In this study discussing current transplantation methods throughout the world, basic ethical dilemmas are addressed and effective solutions sought in accordance with ethical perspectives.

IP Innovative Publication Pvt. Ltd.

cg Nor Zaini Mohd Azam

Living-donor transplantation Overview

Start your donor evaluation, living-donor toolkit.

Mayo Clinic transplant doctors, surgeons and other transplant staff members have extensive experience with living donation. Living-donor transplantation often offers you an attractive alternative to waiting for a deceased-donor organ. You may have a shorter waiting period and fewer complications with a living-donor transplant. ( Learn more about paired donor programs at Mayo Clinic. )

Mayo Clinic surgeons perform living-donor transplant surgery for liver transplant and kidney transplant .

Mayo Clinic has one of the largest living-donor kidney transplant programs in the United States. Researchers actively study outcomes after transplants to improve results. In general, living-donor kidneys will function longer than deceased-donor kidneys.

Surgeons perform minimally invasive surgery to remove a living donor's kidney ( laparoscopic nephrectomy ) for a kidney transplant, which may involve less pain and a shorter recovery for the donor. For a living-donor liver transplant, approximately half of the donor's liver is removed through an incision similar to, but smaller than, the incision used for the recipient.

Donor eligibility and information

The transplant team will evaluate you to determine if you can donate a kidney or part of your liver. Donors usually are younger than 60 years old. You'll have blood tests to determine if your blood and tissue types are compatible with the organ recipient. Transplant staff will interview you, and you'll need to provide your medical history. You'll also have a thorough physical examination. Several other tests, including detailed imaging of your liver or kidneys, will be performed to ensure that you're in good health and you meet donation criteria. Start the process by completing a Health History Questionnaire .

Transplant staff will discuss with you and your family the benefits and risks of donating an organ and answer your questions. After you donate an organ, living-donor coordinators and other transplant staff members will offer you support and follow-up care for several months after your surgery.

In addition to donating living organs, you also may donate bone marrow for a bone marrow transplant .

Living Liver Organ Donation

Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D.: The liver is amazing. It is the only organ in the body that can regenerate to that capacity.

Julie Heimbach, M.D.: So when someone donates part of their liver, it's truly remarkable in that a period of weeks, it continues to regenerate very rapidly.

John Poterucha, M.D.: Most of our living donors have a relationship with the potential recipient, and if that recipient's priority for a deceased donor liver is not high then their only option to get a transplant faster is from a living donor.

Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D.: It gives an opportunity for loved ones to do the best for the patient who is need of a liver transplant. It provides the ultimate gift of life.

Julie Heimbach, M.D.: I think it's important for a potential donor to know that it is a big operation that they need to allow themselves adequate time to recover from that operation.

Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D.: The long term risks are usually much less. People might have hernias or bulges in their abdominal wall and overall risk for having a life-threatening complication in this operation is about 1 in 300.

Julie Heimbach, M.D.: Liver transplant at Mayo is somewhat unique in that the team is very connected.

John Poterucha, M.D.: I think we have the luxury of having it under one roof.

Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D.: It takes a village to transplant somebody and that includes the patient, the loved ones of the patient, the whole Mayo team.

Julie Heimbach, M.D.: We would encourage if you have questions, we would have the opportunity for you to talk with some of our donors who've already gone through the process.

Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D.: We have three different facilities in three different parts of the country with excellent outcomes and large liver transplant programs. It's one of the biggest living donor liver transplant programs in the country. One of the longest-running ones in the country. It's been running for 20 years now.

John Poterucha, M.D.: We've had liver transplant recipients run marathons, have children, they go back to work.

Timucin Taner, M.D., Ph.D.: You see that's the best part of our job. Seeing them at the end of the transplant with everything turned around and living a healthy life.

Living Kidney Organ Donation

Mikel Prieto, M.D.: Many people don't realize that they can change somebody's life by doing this sacrifice. Donating a kidney does not having any long term consequences.

Carrie Schinstock, M.D.: Some patients lose their kidney from genetic diseases or even congenital problems.

Mikel Prieto, M.D.: When that condition progresses to the point where the kidney's going to fail, there's only two options. One option is start dialysis which would be a machine that essentially that does the function of the kidney. The other option is a kidney transplant. There's two ways to do this. One is if you get approved for transplant, we put you on the waiting list for a deceased donor kidney. The other option, which is the best option, is getting a healthy kidney from a living donor.

Carrie Schinstock, M.D.: If you don't have a living donor, you may wait several years for a deceased donor. While we can work up a living donor and you might be able to get a transplant within months.

Mikel Prieto, M.D.: This is a very common procedure. It is done with laparoscopic techniques. In other words, with very small incisions. We feel that it's very safe for the donor and has very good long-term outcomes for the recipient.

Carrie Schinstock, M.D.: Donors are typically in the hospital for only one to two days, and within six to eight weeks they're usually ready to go back to work and lead their normal lives. If you're interested in being a kidney donor, to first step is to access our living donor questionnaire that you can access online.

Mikel Prieto, M.D.: I like coming to work every day because I know that I am surrounded by a team of fantastic professionals. As a team, we're going to be able to get our patients through the most difficult time of their lives.

What do know about being a Living Kidney Donor?

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Ann Transplant

Knowledge and Ethical Issues in Organ Transplantation and Organ Donation: Perspectives from Iranian Health Personnel

Mahmoud abbasi.

1 Medical Ethics and Law Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Mehrzad Kiani

2 Department of Medical Ethics, Faculty of Traditional Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

Mehdi Ahmadi

3 Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute (RVSRI), Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Karaj, Iran

Bahare Salehi

Organ transplantation is one of the most critical topics in medical ethics that is commonplace in various countries. This study aimed to evaluate the knowledge and the ethical issues surrounding organ transplantation and organ donation among healthcare personnel in Tehran, Iran.

Material/Methods

In a cross-sectional study performed on 450 healthcare personnel, self-administered questionnaires were used to derive data from individuals. Among the 450 health personnel who received the questionnaires, 377 completed their questionnaires (83.77%).

The willingness and unwillingness to donate organs among individuals were 47.48% ( n =179) and 52.51% ( n =198), respectively. Among the individuals who signed the organ donation card, 96.5% ( n =55) were willing to donate their organs and 3.5% ( n =2) were unwilling to donate their organs. Most of the individuals that were willing (48.34%; n =175) and unwilling (51.66%; n =187) to donate their organs claimed religious support for organ donation ( P =0.00). Out of these people, 110 willing people (67.48%) and 53 (32.52%) unwilling people were familiar with the idea of brain death. The individuals who selected cadavers (67.64%; n =255) and brain death (24.4%; n =92) were chosen as the best candidates for organ donation. Most individuals believed that young patients ( n =123; 32.62%) and people who had not already had organ transplants ( n =90; 23.87%) should be the preferred recipients of organs. Most individuals had learned about organ transplantation from television (30.24%; n= 114), newspapers (23.61%; n =89), and the radio (19.89%; n =75).

Conclusions

In conclusion, there is a need for more educational programs for the improvement of knowledge and ethical consideration with regard to organ transplantation and organ donation among healthcare personnel.

The transplantation of human organs in the case of the irreversible failure of an organ has been raised for a long time in scientific and social committees, and this topic has been addressed from scientific, moral, religious, political, and legal perspectives [ 1 – 4 ]. Organ donation options, such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, the liver, and the eyes, from a patient with brain death before cardiac arrest, are particularly important because these organs can save another patient’s life. Organ transplantation is one of the most critical topics explored in medical ethics, which is presently commonplace in many countries. Owing to the prevalence of organ transplants in the world, various issues need careful attention from researchers. Organ transplantation within the study of medical ethics contains hundreds of topics.

Ethics, at its foundation, considers the values, ideas, traditions, and practices of a community or an individual [ 5 ]. Thus, any action in opposition to these concepts is deemed to be unethical [ 6 ]. Recently, transplantation has seen improvements across its various features; it can be performed in most regions of the world, including Asian countries [ 7 – 9 ]. In most western nations, voluntary consent is required for organ transplants [ 10 , 11 ]. The demand for organ transplantation has quickly increased during the past decade in many countries. Owing to the increased incidence of organ failure, growing success and significant improvement have become prevalent in post-transplant results. Nevertheless, the lack of adequate organs for transplantation to meet the existing demand has resulted in substantial organ-shortage crises as a result of an increase in the critical conditions of certain patients on transplant waiting lists, as well as in the number of patients deaths while waiting [ 12 – 14 ].

In Islamic countries, many religious scholars have allowed organ transplantation [ 15 , 16 ]. The ethical verdict on organ transplantation is disputable and varying. Therefore, opinions about organ transplantation depend on personal opinions, as well as religious and geographical reasons, and involve economic, emotional, and socio-cultural factors, which deserve discussion and study [ 17 ]. The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the countries in which Islam is the dominant religion. In Iran, the organ donation law was first passed in 2000 by the Islamic Consultative Assembly. From 2001 to 2010, reports from Iran showed a notably increasing rate of transplantation from cadaveric organs [ 18 ]. It seems logical that all countries and regions need to promote expansion of the yield of organs for transplantation. Healthcare knowledge has exposed a key reason for the success or the failure of organ transplantation plans [ 19 ]. One way to reach this aim involves focusing on the knowledge of healthcare workers. The lack of knowledge among healthcare workers has been recognized as a barrier and is essential to successful organ donation [ 20 ]. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the knowledge, the willingness, and the ethical considerations of healthcare personnel with regard to organ transplantation and organ donation in Tehran, Iran.

Material and Methods

This was a cross-sectional study in the hospitals of Tehran, Iran. Data were collected from 2016 to 2017. The survey was carried out by a self-administered questionnaire given to healthcare personnel, which included patient care assistants, security, pharmacists, managers, culinary staff, and nutritionists, and excluded doctor and nurses. The questionnaire form was prepared with 4 parts: socio-demography, knowledge, willingness for organ donation, and ethical beliefs about organ transplantation and organ donation. The educational qualifications of individuals in this study were classified arbitrarily as ‘medium’ (Diploma, Associate, and Bachelor degrees) or ‘high’ (Master’s and Ph.D. degrees). The knowledge of respondents was evaluated through scores of correct responses to questions. In addition, we considered extra questions about the willingness to donate as well as ethical issues for individuals. All the questionnaires were in printed format and the survey was self-administered. During distribution to individuals, we directed the participants to only select 1 response to each query. We assigned a code number for each questionnaire to allow computerized data entry. This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Statistical analysis

All the data were entered into a dedicated SPSS database (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 11.5; IBM, Armonk, New York). The analysis was carried out with the use of the aforementioned software. We used the chi-square test for the analysis of proportions of categorical variables. The independent-samples Student’s t test was used to compare the means for 2 groups of variables. P <0.05 was considered significant. The missing responses to specific questions in the completed questionnaires were coded as missing. Percentages were calculated from the total number of respondents, including those with missing responses.

Socio-demographic characteristics of individuals and healthcare levels

We shared 450 questionnaires among the healthcare personnel. We received 377 completed questionnaires (response rate=83.77%). The socio-demographic characteristics of individuals and healthcare levels are shown in Table 1 . Most of the individuals were female (55.7%; n= 210), single or married (55.04%; n= 120, and 56.6%; n= 90, respectively), and had children (56%; n= 70). Most were less than 35 years (60.21%; n= 227), with 43.17% ( n= 98) males and 56.83% ( n = 129) females. The medium education level had the highest frequency among all participants (66.04%; n =249).

Socio-demographic factors among healthcare personnel.

Willingness and knowledge of healthcare personnel about organ donation

The effect of the characteristics on the willingness towards organ donation among healthcare personnel is shown in Table 2 . The individuals were divided into willing to donate (47.48%; n =179) and unwilling to donate (52.51%; n =198). The category comprising willing to donate organs was higher among females (54.29%; n =114), married people (65.69%; n =134), and individuals with a high level of education (92.38%; n =109). The results showed that the years spent working in healthcare does not significantly affect the willingness to be an organ donor ( P =0.45). Out of all the individuals who signed the organ donation card, 96.5% ( n =55) were willing to donate their organs and 3.5% ( n =2) were unwilling to donate their organs. Most individuals did not know anyone who had donated an organ. Only 40 (76.93%) individuals among the willing-to-donate category and 12 (23.07%) individuals among the unwilling-to-donate category knew someone who had donated an organ. The willingness of individuals to donate blood showed that there was no significant difference between the willingness to donate and the unwillingness to donate ( P =0.24). All the individuals were Muslims and most of the people willing to donate organs (48.34%; n =175) and the people who were unwilling to donate organs (51.66%; n =187) claimed that their religion supports organ donation ( P =0.00). With respect to the concept of brain death, 110 (67.48%) of the participants who were willing to donate and 53 (32.52%) of the participants who were unwilling to donate, were familiar with the concept of brain death. Among the participants, 173 participants (77.23%) who were willing to donate and the 51 participants (22.77%) who were unwilling to donate claimed to know somebody who was waiting for transplantation ( P= 0.01).

Characteristics affecting the willingness to donate organs among healthcare personnel.

Ethical considerations of healthcare personnel with respect to organ donation

The individual’s perspective on the ideal candidate for organ donation is shown in Table 3 . One hundred and twenty-six (33.42%) males and 129 (34.21%) females regarded cadavers as the best candidates for organ donation ( P =0.032). In addition, brain death was selected by 37 (9.81%) males and 55 (14.58%) females as an acceptable source of organ donation. Furthermore, 3 individuals agreed on organ reception from an animal ( P =0.03). Two individuals believed that a paralyzed person was a good candidate for organ donation ( P =0.00). The perspective of individual preference for a received organ is shown in Table 4 . Organ transplants for young patients ( n =123; 32.62%) and people who have not already had organ transplants ( n =90; 23.87%) were given the greatest preference for organ reception. Sixty-five (17.24%) males selected anyone who has not already had an organ transplant as the preferred group, while 88 (23.34%) females regarded young patients as their preferred choice for who should receive an organ.

Perspectives of individuals with regard to the characteristics of ideal candidate for organ donation.

Perspective of individuals with regard to preference for the recipient of an organ.

Information sources of healthcare personnel on organ transplantation

The healthcare personnel who participated in this study heard about organ transplantation from television (30.24%; n =114), newspapers (23.61%; n =89), the radio (19.89%; n =75), the Internet (10.08%; n =38), doctors (6.63%; n =25), friends/colleagues (1.59%; n =6), and others sources (7.96%; n= 30) ( Figure 1 ).

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Information sources of individuals with regard to organ transplantation.

Organ transplantation brings up troublesome ethical issues about an individual’s claims in figuring out what happens to their bodies prior to and after death. In the present study, we found that 47.48% of healthcare personnel were willing to be organ donors. Those belonging to the willing-to-donate category cited the human spirit as the most important reason for donation. We found that women and individuals with higher education were more likely to consent to organ donation than men and individuals with a less education. This result was similar to the findings of Popp et al. [ 21 ] in their assessment of the readiness for living liver donation among the general German population. Alvaro et al. [ 22 ] carried out a study on the predictors of organ donation behavior among Hispanic Americans. The results of this study showed that women were more likely to consent to organ donation than men. Oluyombo et al. [ 23 ] reported that only 29.5% of healthcare workers in south-west Nigeria were willing to donate an organ, even though there was a high level of awareness (93%) and knowledge (82.5%) about organ donation. Unlike our study, Yilmaz [ 24 ] reported that people with higher education tended to have sceptical attitudes towards organ donation. Education level is one of the most important causes that can influence organ donation decisions. In our study, individuals with a higher level of education were more likely to donate and they were less fearful of organ donation. It is clear that people with a higher level of education have a better understanding that organ transplantation can save lives.

In our study, 30.72% of individuals who were willing to donate signed the organ donation card. Schut [ 25 ] reported that only about 7–10% of all the individuals in Germany who are in favor of organ donation carry a donor card. Akqun et al. [ 26 ] performed a study on the knowledge and the personal views of Turkish healthcare professionals, showing that 44.2% of healthcare personnel were willing to donate, but only 17.9% carried donor cards. Agreements to sign organ donation cards suggest body mutilation at the point of death or after, which, in the eyes of many, is taboo and against personal beliefs. Most individuals in our study had not signed donation cards, mostly due to ignorance and inaccurate information. This implies the need to motivate and encourage positive attitudes through appropriate advertising [ 23 ]. In the last year in Iran, 3438 organs were transplanted from dead donors. Recently, around 1.8 million individuals have been issued voluntary organ donation cards in Iran. Every donor can save up to 10 individual lives. Although the willingness to donate the organs of patients with brain death has lately expanded in Iran, more plans should be created to encourage more individuals to become organ donors.

We found that 52.51% of individuals were unwilling to be an organ donor. Previous studies reported some reasons why individuals are unwilling to donate their organs, and indicated that the reasons are complicated [ 27 ]. The results of our study show that certain reasons, traditions, and socio-cultural beliefs make a person unwilling to donate his organs.

Morgan et al. [ 27 ] reported that one of the most important factors affecting organ donation was religion. Sunni and Shi’i are the 2 major branches of Islam, with an overwhelming majority (90%) of Iranians practicing Shi’i Islam, which is the official religion of Iran. Most Islamic religious leaders have acceptant attitudes towards organ donation during life, but certain religious leaders do not believe brain death is an acceptable criterion for donor status, and consider the cessation of all signs of life, including the heartbeat, as a precondition for declaring death [ 28 ]. Religion is an essential part of life for many Asians [ 29 ]. Dehghani et al. [ 30 ] studied the causes of organ donation refusal in southern Iran. They reported a high level of family refusal to allow their relatives to donate organs due to belief that the definition of brain death is obscure and because miracles could still occur and a brain-dead person could recover. For efficient and successful transplanting, health authorities should organize useful debates involving different religious leaders, as they have a significant influence on the clientele of healthcare institutions [ 23 ].

In the present study, individuals indicated that cadavers and brain death are the best candidates for organ donation. Ali et al. [ 31 ] evaluated the knowledge and the ethical views on organ donation among medical students in Pakistan, showing that cadavers, healthy living donors, and brain-death groups were seen as good candidates for organ donation. In recent times, when people die, their organs may be donated if the individual had consented to do so before dying. A person is considered dead once either the heart stops beating or the brain’s function ceases (called brain death). After death, the organs are taken from the body of deceased individuals so that one cadaveric donor can donate organs to a few unique individuals.

In our study, 3 individuals agreed with the use of an animal as a source of organ donation. The main risk associated with organ transplantation from animals to humans is the presence of infectious agents in the transplanted organ and its transference to the recipient, and, eventually, the general population. Predictions such as the likelihood of transmission of disease during organ transplants from animals to humans are difficult to make because the medical community is not equipped to test for any pathogens that can be transferred through this type of transplant. In addition, animal pathogens agents may combine with human pathogens; this can create a new form of patient-specific disease. Mental and psychological issues are essential during organ transplantation from an animal. The human psyche is unpredictable and it is impossible to examine all its dimensions. Only a long-term study can identify the impact on a person. Therefore, the issues raised are more theoretical and its scientific evaluation needs sophisticated studies. Religion plays an essential role in the lives, lifestyles, eating habits, and medical treatments of people. Islam allows organ transplantation from animals to humans as there is no prohibition, unless it has a harmful effect (which is forbidden and unlawful) and is not banned under Islamic law. Based on the studies of researchers and clinical trials of scientists, it seems that organ transplantation from animals to humans will become commonplace. There is no need to lose precious time while patients are waiting on the transplant list. However, human organs will still be needed in the future.

In our study, young patients and people who had not already had organ transplants were the most preferred category for the reception of organs among individuals. Ali et al. [ 31 ] reported that most of the students who participated in their study agreed on the young age group of patients as the preferred group for organ reception due to a desire to increase the life expectancy of younger people. In addition, most individuals believed in equal conditions for organ transplants (i.e., priority should be given to people who have not already had an organ transplant rather than those who have already had organ transplants). They stated that it is not fair for a person to receive an organ several times and another person not to receive an organ even once.

In our study, most individuals had heard about organ donation from television. In recent years, television programs in various countries have dealt with organ transplantation in their storylines in different ways. Weber et al. [ 32 ] carried out a study on the impact of television on attitudes towards organ donation in a sample of the German urban population. They reported that the assumption that TV had a negative impact on donation rates must be rejected. Therefore, a stagnation or decline in donation rates must be blamed on other reasons. Saleem et al. [ 33 ] studied the knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding organ donation among a selected adult population in Pakistan. They showed that television, print media, and doctors fall in the same order of frequency in being information sources for organ donation. Majidi and Aghaee [ 34 ] studied the role of television in the spread of ideas about organ donation from the perspective of families who donated organs. They found that television documentaries showing donors and recipient families had the most significant role in encouraging donators. The current broadcast of a scene on the advancement of organ donation and its significance in a favorite primetime television reality show caused an influx of reactions, with volunteers signing up for organ donation; this broke every record. In the 48 hours after the scene was broadcast on the family television show ‘Khandevaneh’, nearly 68 000 individuals went to the entrance of the Iranian Society for Organ Donation and signed up for organ donation. A typical strategy to spread awareness is mass communication; this involves creating prominent recognition through education campaigns or public messages on issues that enhance volunteerism.

This study showed that most of the healthcare personnel want to promote organ donation. We found that organ donation knowledge is correlated to the education level and the socioeconomic status of individuals. Our findings show that television, newspapers, and radio can be efficient sources of information. Religious scholars are exceedingly importatnt in mobilizing favorable public opinion towards organ donation. Policymakers should involve religious scholars to promote organ donation. Further studies should be carried out to elucidate the reasons behind attitudes against organ donation among healthcare personnel. This information will guide any future approach towards overcoming the inconsistency between the willingness to donate and unwillingness to donate. In this study, we used a quantitative tool to evaluate the willingness to donate among healthcare personnel in Tehran. Our analysis is a vital baseline document for further studies and a qualitative tool that can be used by future researchers.

In summary, Iran has the third highest rates of organ donation in the world and is the only nation that has addressed the shortage of transplant organs through a legal payment system for organ donation since 1988. It is also the only nation in which organ exchange is authorized. Undoubtedly, organizing and coordinating organ transplantation through the comprehensive organ transplantation system needs purposeful development through the extensive and rapid growth of organ transplantation in Iran. It must have an adequate level of organization for study and prediction, policymaking and planning, implementation, and monitoring education and research on medical organ transplantation.

Acknowledgements

This paper was part of the Ph.D. thesis of Dr. Bahare Salehi supervised by Dr. Mahmoud Abbasi and Dr. Mehrzad Kiani and advised by Dr. Mehdi Ahmadi.

Conflicts of interest

Source of support: This study was financially supported by the Vice-chancellor for Research Affairs of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

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The present study highlighted that there are multiple reasons why people donate organs. The major motivators for organ donation identified are saving the life of others, moral obligation, an extension of life, relief of grief, and being a role model for others. In the present research, organ donation is seen as an opportunity to extend life.
A Systematic Literature Review and Research Agenda for Organ Donation
Abstract. Background: This study systematically located and appraised peer-reviewed evidence for the efficacy of strategies to increase organ donation decision communication among adults including an assessment of study quality to guide future research in this field. There is little room to move in strengthening unanimously positive public ...
What factors influence a family's decision to agree to organ donation
An electronic search was undertaken of research papers published between the introduction of a NHS Organ Donor Register in 1994 - 2017. ... waiting lists are ever growing in the UK and family consent remains one of the most crucial factors to the success of organ donation programmes. This paper provides a review of UK evidence and key themes ...
Research Reports
This report details the findings of the 2012 survey of the American public's attitudes and behaviors about organ donation. View and download the 2012 National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Behaviors (PDF - 1 MB) report. Outcomes of the 2019 National Survey of Organ Donation Attitudes and Practices are now available. Download now.
Worldwide barriers to organ donation
Importance: The disparity between patients awaiting organ transplantation and organ availability increases each year. As a consequence, organ trafficking has emerged and developed into a multibillion-dollar-a-year industry. Objective: To identify and address barriers to organ donation in the United States and globally. Evidence review: Evidence-based peer-reviewed articles, including ...
Introduction
The organ donation and transplantation system strives to honor the gift of donated organs by fully using those organs to save or improve the quality of the lives of transplant recipients. As a result of advances achieved through basic and clinical research over the past several decades, organ transplantation has become the optimal treatment for many end-stage organ-specific diseases. However ...
Social media and organ donation: Ethically navigating the next frontier
Public solicitation of anonymous organ donors: a position paper by the Canadian society of transplantation. Transplantation. 2016; 101: 17-20. Crossref; ... Research on transplant candidates' potential use of social media to seek or provide organs for transplantation should assess patient, provider, and institutional attitudes regarding ...
Organ Donation: Importance Information Research Paper
Organ Donation: Importance Information Research Paper. Organ transplant is a form of surgery in which an injured, diseased, or damaged body organ is removed from a patient and replaced with a healthy organ, which has been donated (Elgert 4). This concept emerged in the 19 th century and has been practiced for a long time now (about 50 years now).
Organ donation: Don't let these myths confuse you
Myth: Organ donation is against my religion. Fact: Organ donation is consistent with the beliefs of most major religions. These religions include Roman Catholicism, Islam, most branches of Judaism and most Protestant faiths. If you're unsure of or uncomfortable with your faiths position on organ donation, ask your clergy member. Myth: I'm under 18.
Growing our donated organ supply
Adam's research has also found that donor-candidate race match was associated with significantly higher odds of offer acceptance, an association that Adam says "highlights the importance of organ donation from racial minority communities, and has motivated our work on equitable organ procurement."
(PDF) Organ donation
Around 5000 kidneys, 1000 livers, and around 50 hearts are transplanted annually in. India [2] • There is a poor organ donation rate - 0.26 per million in. India, compared to some of the ...
PDF Online Organ Donation System Using Blockchain
2)This paper stands out from other research papers on organ donation and online management systems because it goes beyond discussing organs and donations. It explores the psychological impact of organ donation on donors and how they are treated by society after becoming donors. Additionally, the paper emphasizes the crucial role of Health
(DOC) Research paper organ donation
Download Free PDF. View PDF. Steven Garcia Professor Megan Swearingen ESL 363 14 December 2015 Organ donation around the world Today many people on the earth are waiting for some type of transplant. In this research paper, we are going to understand the benefits and disadvantages of Organ Donation in the World.
The Medical Minute: Six organ donation facts knock down six myths
Deceased donors are sometimes 70 to 80 years old. What matters is the donor's overall health at the time of death and the organ function. Living donors must be healthy enough to undergo the operation safely and be well after donation, and the organ being donated must be able to do its job in its new host. Register to become an organ donor ...
Facilitators and Barriers in the Organ Donation Process: A Qualitative
1. Introduction. According to the Spanish National Transplant Organization (NTO), a "transplant" refers to the replacement of a diseased organ or tissue with another that works properly [].Without the solidarity of the donors, no transplants would be possible [].Spain is the world leader in organ donation, with a rate of 49.0 donations per million population (pmp), equaling 2302 organ ...
Living-donor transplantation
Researchers actively study outcomes after transplants to improve results. In general, living-donor kidneys will function longer than deceased-donor kidneys. Surgeons perform minimally invasive surgery to remove a living donor's kidney (laparoscopic nephrectomy) for a kidney transplant, which may involve less pain and a shorter recovery for the ...
Groundbreaking research out about technology to preserve organs ...
Doctors at Mayo Clinic say the new system has the potential to widen the donor pool and potentially revive non-beating hearts for transplant. "Some people have known this as an organ in a box.
Organ transplants may have unexpected consequences: recipients' tastes
Organ transplants save lives - but, a recent study suggests, they may also come with an unexpected side effect: profound personality changes. The paper, "Personality Changes Associated with ...
Legal, Regulatory, and Policy Frameworks for Organ Donation and
Examples of Organ Donor Intervention Research Studies: Authorization for Research on Deceased Organ Donors. The investigators in several of the studies listed in Table 3-1 obtained authorization prior to including deceased donors in their research protocols. In studies by Ware and colleagues (2014) and Niemann and colleagues (2015), for example, if a deceased donor had not previously ...
Texas Surgeon Is Accused of Secretly Denying Liver Transplants
Founded in 1925, Memorial Hermann is a major hospital in Houston, but it has a relatively small liver transplant program. Last year, it performed 29 liver transplants, according to federal data ...
Knowledge and Ethical Issues in Organ Transplantation and Organ
Background. The transplantation of human organs in the case of the irreversible failure of an organ has been raised for a long time in scientific and social committees, and this topic has been addressed from scientific, moral, religious, political, and legal perspectives [1-4].Organ donation options, such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, the liver, and the eyes, from a patient with brain death ...

Knowledge, attitude and willingness to donate organ among medical students of Jimma University, Jimma Ethiopia: cross-sectional study

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Organ donation: Don’t let these myths confuse you

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Myth: If I agree to donate my organs, the hospital staff won't work as hard to save my life.

Myth: Maybe I won't really be dead when they sign my death certificate.

Myth: Organ donation is against my religion.

Myth: I'm under 18. I'm too young to make this decision.

Myth: An open-casket funeral isn't an option for people who have donated organs or tissues.

Myth: I'm too old to donate. Nobody would want my organs.

Myth: I'm not in the best of health. Nobody would want my organs or tissues.

Myth: I'd like to donate one of my kidneys now, but I wouldn't be allowed to do that unless one of my family members is in need.

Myth: Rich and famous people go to the top of the list when they need a donor organ.

Myth: My family will be charged if I donate my organs.

Becoming an organ donor is easy. You can indicate that you want to be a donor in these ways:

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