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The Opt Out System Of Organ Donation Should Be Adopted In Australia !!!- RELIGION
The opt-out system of organ donation should be adopted in Australia - RELIGION
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The opt-out system of organ donation should be adopted in Australia - RELIGION
The first thing is first, what is the opt-out system of organ donation? The nature of the opt-out system of donation is such that the consent of the deceased donor is accepted and presumed (Bhatia & Tibballs, 2017). No changes can be made in the organ donation decision unless or until a written statement from the deceased is provided in which they have said that they will not be donating any organ (Howard et al., 2016). Australia is currently operating on an opt-in system for organ donation in which if the donor passes away, regardless of giving consent the family makes the final decision of giving the organ.
Australia should switch to the opt-out system of organ donation as stats have proven that this strategy can bring a rise in the rates of organ transplants. There is substantial evidence present which has proven that a lot of lives have been saved because of the opt-out system (Tarrant, 2017). Even when the opt-out system is seen under the light of religion, it only projects positivity. Every religion out there supports the saving of lives, and this system only increases the chances of survival of many people out there who have given up on hope (Trotter, 2017). There is no religion out there which formally prohibits organ donation or has shown constraint against donating from a deceased or living patient (Hanson et al., 2017). There are only a few orthodox extremists who are against the donation of organs more specifically from a deceased donor, however, most religions approve of it.
Let us shed light on this matter by discussing the views of some of the major religions in found in Australia. For starters, the example of the Catholic Church can be taken, most Christians are in support of the organ donation (Toews, 2017). The bigger chunk of Christians look at organ donation as an act of sheer love towards mankind and is seen as devotion to God. Christian scientists are also supporters of organ donation, they believe that it is an individual’s decision. Coming to Hinduism, they believe in the concept of reincarnation and a second life. For them reincarnating into a better form and caste all depends on the good deeds done in the past life (Ferguson et al., 2018). Donating an organ and saving a life is seen as one of the greatest good, so Hinduism is in supporter of the concept of transplant and donation as well. Buddhism believe the fact that tissue and organ donation is an act of individual integrity and carries great value as an act that represents compassion (Gain et al., 2016). The Greek Orthodox Church is also in support of organ donation as the act denotes sacrifice and love amongst people. Lastly, but most importantly Reformed Church of Australia also does not have any principle or biblical objection on organ transplant and donation for healing purposes.
Other than the above-mentioned religions, Judaism, Maori, Quakers, Pentecostal, Shinto, Episcopal, and many Churches approve the transplant and donation of organs. They think of it as an act that carries great compassion and can save human lives (Isdale & Savulescu, 2015). So, even from a religious perspective, the donation of the organ is a decision of the individual, it is a matter between them and God and should be permissible. It is not about what is ethically and morally correct when the donor have given the consent. Majority of the people in Australia die in the wait of a renal transplant due to the opt-in system (Jericho, 2019). The chunk of people who die without getting a transplant is also inclusive of young children. So, Australia needs to switch to opt-out system of organ donation to save more lives.
References
Bhatia, N., & Tibballs, J. (2017). The Development of Property Rights over Cadaveric Tissues and Organs: Legal Obstructions to the Procurement of Organs in an'Opt-Out'System of Organ Donation in Australia and New Zealand. Available at SSRN 3269656.
Howard, K., Jan, S., Rose, J. M., Wong, G., Craig, J. C., Irving, M., ... & Cass, A. (2016). Preferences for policy options for deceased organ donation for transplantation: a discrete choice experiment. Transplantation, 100(5), 1136-1148.
Tarrant, D. (2017). Opinion: Organ donation-should Australia adopt an opt-out system?. Australian Medicine, 29(15), 15.
Trotter, J. F. (2017). Liver transplantation around the world. Current opinion in organ transplantation, 22(2), 123-127.
Hanson, C. S., Ralph, A. F., Manera, K. E., Gill, J. S., Kanellis, J., Wong, G., ... & Tong, A. (2017). The lived experience of “being evaluated” for organ donation: focus groups with living kidney donors. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 12(11), 1852-1861.
Toews, M. (2017). Increasing organ donation rates: What's legal and what's not?. Bulletin (Law Society of South Australia), 39(11), 18.
Ferguson, E., Dorner, L., France, C. R., France, J. L., Masser, B., Lam, M., ... & Huis in’t Veld, E. (2018). Blood donor behaviour, motivations and the need for a systematic cross‐cultural perspective: the example of moral outrage and health‐and non‐health‐based philanthropy across seven countries. ISBT Science Series, 13(4), 375-383.
Gain, P., Jullienne, R., He, Z., Aldossary, M., Acquart, S., Cognasse, F., & Thuret, G. (2016). Global survey of corneal transplantation and eye banking. JAMA ophthalmology, 134(2), 167-173.
Isdale, W., & Savulescu, J. (2015). Three proposals to increase Australia’s organ supply. Monash bioethics review, 33(2-3), 91-101.
Jericho, B. G. (2019). Organ Donation After Circulatory Death: Ethical Issues and International Practices. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 128(2), 280-285.
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