Organ Transplants Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Organ Transplants - Research Paper Example As such, these determinations must be based on fair and equitable criteria, including rate of success, medical need, and length of time on the waiting list. In any case, these criteria have managed to ensure the logical, as well as the unbiased distribution of organs to those who need it the most. Organ Transplants Organ transplants are one of the many innovations in healthcare which are currently gaining popular clinical application. This practice is mostly done in order to replace a failing or diseased organ in the hope of extending and/or improving a patient’s life. This paper shall discuss about organ transplants and related information pertaining to its applications. This essay is being carried out in order to establish a clear and comprehensive understanding of organ transplants and how they apply to the clinical practice. Discussion WebMd (2010) discusses that organ transplants are medical procedures carried out in order to replace a â€Å"failing organ with a healthy organ†. Organs which can be transplanted include kidneys, liver, heart, pancreas, lungs, and small intestines (WebMD, 2010). Not all people can be considered for this procedure and a series of tests have to be undertaken first in order to determine a person’s viability for such procedure. ... Now, many of these transplants are considered routine procedures for hospitals (WebMD, 2010). The rate of success for these procedures are based on various factors, including the organ being transplanted, the number of organs being transplanted, and the disease which causing the organ failure (WebMD, 2010). In the US, there are about 59 organ procurement organizations which furnish deceased donor organs to the transplant centers (Nathan, Conrad, Held, Pietroski, Siminoff, and Ojo, 2003). Out of these procurement groups, 50 operate independently, and nine are hospital-based. The procurement organizations have a connected geographical area which are considered as recovery centers for organs for the various hospitals in the area (Nathan, et.al., 2003). In determining the viability of organ donation, the time, the manner, and the place of the donor’s death are usually considered (POST, 2004). More often than not, organ donors are those whose brain functions have ceased, but whose organs are still viable and are â€Å"being maintained by medical support† (POST, 2004, p. 1). With current improvements in medical care, including the prolongation of human life, the number of these donors, otherwise known as heart beating donors, has decreased (POST, 2004). Other methods of procuring organs have been considered in order to fill in the gaps of organ need and most of the alternatives have been directed towards living donations, mostly for kidneys and livers. Some of these organs have also been retrieved shortly after patient deaths following critical illness and road accidents (POST, 2004). Since 2002, based on federal rules, the designation of the procurement organizations were made