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Colby Fagan Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1103 October 31, 2013

Can Dr. Love not fix your broken heart?

Chest pains are no laughing matter, which is why when I began having them early one Sunday morning, so strong that I could hardly function, my mother began to worry. Based on my family historyheavily through my mother s sidesmy heart could very well be acting up even at the young age of eighteen. I began thinking (to wonder) what could have caused these pains to arise so quickly, and when I considered that it might be my heart, questions began racing through my mind. What all have I eaten? Where did I not exercise enough? Why now, (when) Im still so young? Why me? After a visit with my family doctor, I learned of the probability that I had simply (most likely) pulled my left pectoral minor a larger muscle in my chest through working, playing tennis, or a number of other daily activities. However (Still), the doctor went on to say that, for the sake of covering every possibility, he would schedule me an appointment with a cardiologist to have more in depth and specific tests completed to make sure that I was truly in good health. The visit to the cardiologist was enjoyable due to the fact that I walked away with no heart troubles; my only problem was a pulled chest muscle that was healing quickly. While I do not have a problem now, (it is) more than likely that I will in the future no matter what measures I go

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through to keep my heart healthy because of my genes that have been passed down through the generations to me. Even though my family has had its share of troubles, there has never been a need for transplantation. Although everyday more and more families and individuals are challenged in finding a suitable match, so they may go on living and see what they could have missed. Sadly, not all individuals that need an organ are granted one, and (even with the operation) they could possibly perish within the next month or year. According to Dr. Michael C. Fishbein, at Medicine Net, there are approximately 4,000 patients annually that could benefit from a heart transplant, while only around 2,000 that are actually transplanted. These staggering numbers are for heart transplants alone; they do not account for the other transplantable organs that are in short supply. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) is the organization in charge of the collection and distribution of cadaver donated organs to those who they deem the most in need. The non-profit organization looks not only into a patients pleads for a new organ, (but) at their criminal record, or in some cases their grades (as well), which could point out a recipients willingness to keep with their medications and make sure that the organ will not go to waste. In August of 2013 there was a story posted on WJBF News of a fifteen-year-old boy who has an enlarged heart and will die approximately within the next six months if a transplant is not secured. However, the doctors had to inform the teens family that he could not be placed on the list, due to his non-compliance and so called run ins with the law (Wise). UNOS may seem like a bad guy when they deny recipients of life saving organs, but they cannot bend the rules simply due to the numbers of crying mothers and children, begging for the lives of their loved ones, but the organization must draw a line for their recipients and
Commented [KW4]: Consider adding a semicolon here instead Commented [KW1]: Consider making into two separate sentences Commented [KW2R1]: While I do not have a problem now, it is more than like that I will in the future. No matter what measures I take to keep my heart healthy, my genetics put me at a high risk for health issues. Commented [KW3]: Confusing sentence

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which side of the law and how devoted they will be to caring for their transplanted organ. Many other factors come into play when an individual applies for an organ, such as geographical distance, biological compatibility and readiness to receive the transplant. Candidates are also classified into groups such as Active and Inactive; these groups show each candidates readiness for the organ. Active means that the patients are ready and healthy enough for the transplant, while inactive means that they are not healthy enough to receive or possibly not even survive the surgery. Before the organs get to the candidates they pass though a system called UNET, which is owned and operated by the United Network for Organ Sharing. The main purpose of UNET is to automatically identify and match organs with possible recipients in the surrounding areas. UNET is accessible only to certified professionals, who use the system to claim organs for their patients at their transplant centers. This process is only for cadaver-donated organs; live donor processes are much different: less strenuous and not nearly as lengthy. Donation in itself is a complicated and very ethically debated process in which there has been books, papers and complaints formed over when to remove organs from a donor. The Dead Donor Rule (DDR) is a policy in which a donor must be dead before the doctors can remove the needed organs. This policy may seem straightforward, but sadly it is what causes the most controversy. If Dead is defined as no longer being alive, then what denotes no longer being alive? This is the problem with the DDR: it does not specify how, or what type of dead the patient must be. Donation under Cardiac Death or DCD is where a patients heart stops beating, which may leave their brain still active for several minutes. With the brain still living, there may still be a possibility for signals of pain to be sent across the nervous system throughout the body.

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So what truly is death? Death, technically, is when an individuals heart stops beating, and the brain ceases function. Brain death constitutes that the brain has ceased function, yet the body can still function on its own or through the use of life support. Doctors use their own opinion of death in the operating room to determine when a patient is dead enough to start harvesting the organs. This single decision is where the ethical vexations arise and then causes the controversies all over the state, the country, and the world. Organs function at the highest levels in a transplant recipient if they have suffered little or no oxygen deprivation; which (this) means that the quickest removal time from a donor is crucial in the effectiveness of the overall procedure. The prime time zone is within two to three minutes after the patient has been assigned a time of death by the doctors; this time gives the heart another opportunity to beat, yet it still keeps oxygen in the organs, keeping their condition pristine. Also, the geographical location of the organ in relation to the recipient has a major influence in the potency of the transplant, when an organ sits, even in the best environment, waiting on the recipient; it becomes stale and loses its working effects. The opinions provoking or downgrading the transplantation of various organs give light to the ethical sides of donation protocols throughout the world. Through this illumination, the world is informed that their lives may one day be held in the hands of doctors across the globe. What truly is the right thing to do? Should one life be cut short, so that another may be prolonged?
Commented [KW6]: Overall, it really enjoyed this essay. Your exploration of the ethical side of organ transplants was very interesting. Your most common problem was run on sentences. Id love to read abo ut your further exploration into the moral side of this issue. Commented [KW5]: The geographical location of the organ in relation to the recipient also has a major influence in the potency of the transplant. When an organ sits waiting on the recipient, even in the best environment, it becomes stale and loses its working effects.

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Bibliography Fishbein, Michael C., M.D. "Heart Transplant Surgery, Rejection, and Procedure." MedicineNet. N.p., 01 Jan. 2013. Web. 02 Nov. 2013. Infant Heart Transplant Controversy Highlights Importance of Dead Donor Rule. The Hastings Center. The Hastings Center, n.d. Web. 17 Oct. 2013. Veatch, Robert. But Are They Really Dead? Is No Heartbeat Enough for Death? Raising the Dead: Organ Transplants, Ethics, and Society. Oxford [England: Oxford UP, 2002. 172-91. Print. Wise, Dawn. "A GA Teen Is Denied a Heart Transplant - WJBF-TV ABC 6 AugustaAiken News, Weather, Sports." News Channel 6 WJBF. Media General Communications Holdings, LLC., 13 Aug. 2013. Web. 28 Oct. 2013.