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COMPARISON BETWEEN THE ORGAN DONATION IN UNITED STATES AND CHINA
INTRODUCTION
Organ donation, as an important means of saving lives, has been highlighted by doctors and medical researchers for decades. It is also seen as a http://www.ukassignment.org/lxslw/ sharp contradiction that the supply of donated organs is not able to satisfy the needs of the patient-in -waiting. Therefore, a well-developed network and a better legal system on organ donation should play a huge difference in organ donation. The current research compares organ donation in the United States and China from the perspectives of its operation and laws. The status quo of organ donation and distribution is discussed in this thesis.
UNITED STATES WAS
The United States is known as one of the earliest countries in the organ donation field. Back to 1984, the Law of National Organ Donation was passed. In the meantime, particular organizations and agencies were arranged to serve the distribution of organ donation activities. The organ donation system in the U.S. has been throughin existence more than twenty years so far. The system of organ donation in U.S. is still under modificationsmodification, especially updating. The principle of professional service and equality has been treasured as the standingstarting point of the organization.
In the distribution process, the universal medical standard is to be strictly abided by by the network according to the urgentnessurgency of the patient in queue. Elements like age, blood type and the specific conditions of patient will beare taken into consideration. The whole donation process is disposedexposed in the monitoring of the public. What’s more, based on the contracts with the Public Health care and Service Department , the Organ Sharing and Allocation Network, established on September 30, 1986 , is mainly dealing with the acceptance and operation of the network of organ donation. The network takes care of the registry of the patient in need and distribution of the donated organs. These two organizaitons organizations collectively ensure the professional allocation of the donated organs. The separate function of the two organizations also helps avoid the unnecessary controdictioncontradiction in the process of organ donation.
As we discussed above, the laws and rules on organ donation and allocation in U.S. are relatively well arranged. The justiceJustice and equality can be displayed in the process of distribution of organs.
In the United States, the organ donation should follow the volunteering ideaswishes of the donators.donor to volunteer their organs. The agreement of their family members should also be noted. According to the survey of medical management departmentdepartments, the number of donated organs has increased by 1.5 percent per year since 1995. The number of candidates waiting for the organs has, however, increased by 15 percent per year. In average, about 63 transplanting cases are carried out every day. In the meantime, 16 patients are to lose their lives due to the failure in receiving the organs in need. It is obvious that the number of donated organs isdoes not to satisfy the need of potential organ receivers.recipients. Therefore, more stimulating rules to stimulate donation have been made in different states.
In order to encourage more people to join the donation team, statedonate, states like PennsylvanianPennsylvania required that the organ donation organizations be present in the operation atmosphere and evaluate the quality of organs when the patient are facing the brain death. The medical quota and insurance laws passed on August 21, 1998 also carried similar requirement. Such legislation may help increase the numbers of donated organs. Besides the legal requirements and rules, more people are encouraged to become organ donors.
Organ Procurement Organizations
As the other side of the coin, the distribution of organs should also arouse the attention of the public. In order to allocate and distribute the donated organs, the NOTA (National Organ Transplant Act) was passed in 1984. Two years later, the OPTN (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network) was established. In United States, OPTN, as a network for organ distribution, is responsible for the gathering, management and the study of matching donated organs. The whole network has a reputation for its independence, consolidation and openness to the society. It is established, within the requirement of the laws, as an organization featuring the independence in financial management and human resource allocation. The status of the available organs can be checked out by the people who are in need of the donated organs as long as they have access to the internet. They can also identify the “queuing” patient who is waiting for the organs in turn. Such information is also under the monitoring of the public and the health care management departments. OPTN has its branch known as the UNOS (United Network for Organ Sharing). Members of OPTN include the transplanting centers in different regions, the OPOs (Organ Procurement Organizations) and the labs set for the study of transplanting. Countries like United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Japan, South Africa and Canada have also adopted the UNOS model. The chief principles of UNOS include the following items:
1. the rights and duties of the members
2. the requirement of the organ supplying organization
3. the allocation of organs
4. the standard of the packing of organs
5. the categorization of foreign organs
6. the freight
7. the announcing of public information
8. the registration fee
OPOs have altoghtheraltogether 63 branches throughout the U.S. They are mainly responsible for the allocation and cooperation with the organ receiving parties. They are usually leaned upon as theprovide assistance to the hospitals in arranging the procedure of donation and distribution. They also deal with the transportation and storage of the donated organs.
CHINA
In China, the organ donation is also well protected by the law. Shenzhen, as the pioneer city in organ donation, announced the rules on organ donation in 2000. The draft on the judgment of the death of brain has also been passed as the law . Compared with the U.S. China still confronts a long path to go in organ donation field.
Due to the limited number of donated organs, China is also facing the similar problem like what happens in US. The shortage of organ supply has become the bottle neck for the development of organ donation. In China, nearly 1.5 million patientpatients are in need of donated organs each year. The number of transplanting surgery, however, is just around 10 thousand each year. The RedcrossRed Cross Association and the Health and Medical Department of China have taken measures to start the establishing of the bank of donated organs. The project was implemented initially in ten big cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and tianjin, etc.
The shortage of organ supply can find its reasons in many aspects. Due to the rocketing of demand in organ transplanting, China has become the second largest country which is thirsty in organ transplanting. With the improvement of medical care standard, the number is expected to be much bigger than the present one. At the same time, the number of transplanting operations made each year is just about ten thousand. The decline of car accident racerates is also another important source for the shortage of organ supply since less death is to be caused by the car accident. The number of potential organ donators is further reduced accordingly. The traditional ideas are also influencing the organ donation. Chinese people believe that body and hair should not be separated. Some people consider that the body, even in its death http://www.ukassignment.org/lxslw/ status, should be well protected. If the potential donators had not determined to donate the organs, their family members will usually follow their wills not donating organs to others. The organ donation is significantly different from other ordinary medical operation. It has pretty high requirement toward the donated organs. The donators should not have suffered any organ injury. The organs to be donated should also be in their wonderful states. The organs from the brain-death people are to be suitable for the transplanting.
Therefore, the transplanting system in China requires a deep reform. Measures taken by western countries should be adopted. In Spain, there exists a certain group of people who are engaged in persuading the potential organ donators. The free will of the donatorsdonors are to be respected even thtoughthough the family members may reject the donation when the donatorsdonors die from accidents. Therefore, the donation rate in Spain ranks the first in the world. Every 34 out of a million people are willing to be the organ donators. In US, campaigns around the whole country are carried out for organ donation. The medical department accelerates the labor unions and companies act in encouraging employees in donating organs after death. The donation cards are dispatched throughout the countries for the survey of organ donation purposes. The list of potential donators is specifically recorded in the computer system for future use.
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