MKG222: Social Cause Scoping Study - Report - Assessment Answer

Social Cause Scoping Study Assignment

Case Scenario/ Task

1. Discerption of Social cause

Organ donation is when an individual allows healthy tissues or transplantable organs to be removed either alive or after death and donate it to someone to be transplanted in their body (Simpkin et al., 2009). Some of the common transplantations include heart, kidney, lungs, liver, intestines, pancreas, bone marrow, corneas and skin. It is not necessary that organs can only be donated after death but some organs can be donated while alive and are kidney and a part of lung. It shall be noted that most of the donations take place after death. As a matter of fact a substantial population do not even donate organs after death. Organ donation is something that can save numerous lives but then people do not indulge in it actively (Rithalia & McDaid, 2009). This is something that belongs to the adamant behaviour of the people in the society. There are many researchers and socialists who have showed their concern on this and they are of the opinion that rather than burning or burying those organs with body after death it is socially beneficial to donate them.

2. Importance of organ donation

Organ donation is anyway a very important and vital social cause. Statistics show that there are many people who die because of hearth problem, kidney problem, lung infections, etc. In most of the cases they do not have a functioning organ and that’s why they die. If everyone would start donating organs then a number of people will get an opportunity to live (Miller & Walke, 2007). There is another issue that is, less people do organ donation and because of that organs are limited in number and that increases price. Many patients are not able to afford it and thus they lose their life. By giving organ to someone in need you might end up saving an entire family. This may be because of the fact that the one who is in the need of organ might be the only earning individual of the family.

3. Changes in behaviour that are needed and why

There is a need to change the behaviour and perception of people about organ donation. There are three major aspects that affect the behaviour of an individual negatively and these are lack of knowledge, scepticism and reluctance. Many people are not aware about the benefits of organ donation and how this can save a life. This is why it is important to provide them knowledge about organ donation. There are some people who think that organ donation may be of not any use and their organs might be traded (Gibson, 2010). These are the things that many people bear in their mind. But it is necessary to make them aware about where their organs would go by transparently showing them the process. Some people are reluctant to accept this concept as a socially responsible cause beneficial for society. They assume that it is not significant to donate organs due to various grounds. Thus, this behaviour is also required to be changed.

Introduction

Organ donation refers to when a person donates their organs and tissues for transplant. The main purpose of organ transplant is to replace damaged organ and tissues of an individual. Several common organ donations organs include cornea, heart, kidney, liver, lungs, intestines, pancreas, bone marrow, corneas and skin among others (Hakim, 2012). According to United States (2012), donation can be done from either a living person or dead person. However, most people prefer deceased organ donation after the brain of the deceased is declared dead by a physician. A transplant has significant importance whereby it can save life of an individual as well as improve his health and his quality life.

Importance of donation of organ

Organ donation has a significance importance on a social cause. According to Statistics carried out many people who die every day because of organ and tissues such as heart problem, kidney problem, lung infections (Institute of Medicine, 2011). In most of the cases, they do not have a functioning organ and that is why they die. Therefore, organ donation is a great decision by committing to it many lives up to eight individuals, and even more will get an opportunity to live. In fact, a kidney transplant performed at Memorial hospital in 1964 saved lives of many (Kovacs, 2012). In 2014 organ donation, which includes 22-heart transplant, which is the highest yearly organ donation volume in the history of Chicago, and the second highest volume in the U.S. for pediatric heart transplants gave several people an opportunity to live again.

Nearly anyone, irrespective of race, age, or gender, can become an organ and tissue donor, and there are no incurring costs to the person’s family or estate. Most often, the problem with organ donation is that less people do organ donation owing to that organs are limited in number and thus increases the price. Consequently, many patients lose their lives because they are not able to afford it. According to Pearl (2012), by giving an organ to someone in need, you might end up saving an entire family. This is because organ recipient might be the only earning individual of the family. Therefore, organ transplant gives thousands of people both adults and children a new chance of living active and full life..

Organ donation announcement

According to Jensen (2011), anyone willing to donate, an organ or issue should announce his decision of transplant on the driver license or national identification card (ID) through the state Department of motor vehicle registry. Such announcement is considered legal consent for organ and tissue donation. Second, there is no age set limit for organ donation. At the time of death, the potential organs of the contributor are evaluated to determine their suitability for transplantation. Lifesaving organs for transplant includes heart, kidney, lungs, pancreas, and intestines. In addition, tissues such as bones, tendons, and ligaments and Corneas, heart valves and skin are required for important surgical procedures to enable repair injured or diseased bones and joints (Hakim, 2012). Below is an example of organ transplant driving licence card.

Steps for organ donation

Before the process of organ donation is carried out, there are several process that are folowed. The below table shows a summary of organ transplant process.

Currently, the population in general lack sufficient knowledge concerning organ donation and transplantation, which is a hindrance to the issue of organ donation. For instance, in a nation such as china most of the citizens fail to comprehend issue of dead brain, which as a result remains somewhat strange especially in the declaration of death. In addition, organ donation is affected by the fact that very few families are consenting to the idea. According to a study conducted less than 50% of the families were willing to accept organ donation as a means of saving lives (Hakim, 2012). This low rate is attributed by various traditional cultures that are unaware of the issue. Some traditional cultures are of the opinion that body integrity after death is core and thus their unwillingness to accept organ donation. This is contrary to most of the western ideologies that are of the opinion that a dead body does not have religion significance and organs can be collected from such a body. Eastern cultures, contrary view the body and the mind as a one object thus propose the body and the mind are sacred. Such conventional beliefs pose a major challenge as far as organ donation is concerned. In addition, there are laws in some nations for instance in China that contribute to non-acceptance of organ donation. In most of the nations, a person must have a written record of consenting to organ donation just before brain death (Spenser, 2012). In most of the cases, patients undergo brain death without leaving a written consent because most of the times, people are optimistic that they are going to be fine. Thus in case of brain death it is difficult to obtain an organ from such a person. Further, poor economic status, prevalent distrust in the medical bodies, and poor educational levels serve as obstacles to donation of organs.

Religious beliefs of organ donation

In most of the countries, death attracts a spiritual dimension of life that makes it difficult for people to accept the idea of organ donation. When a family is faced with the issue of having to donate an organ from one of their kin members, trauma and religious issues set in. most of the people usually wonder whether it is right according to their religious beliefs to volunteer for such a thing. The main problem however is that most of the common religious beliefs are silent about the issue of organ donation thus leaves the followers scared and most of them fail to embrace the idea. In some cases the faith leader is left to decide on whether members should accept the idea.Such religions include Amish, United Church Of Christ, Greek, Assembly Of God, Baptist, Buddhism, Brethren, Christian Church, Episcopal, Catholicism, Orthodox and Christian Science among others (Spenser, 2012). Some religions such as Shinto are clearly against the idea and forbid their followers from accepting to donate organs terming it as impure risky and thus outlawed. According to Shinto Concept Concerning the Dead Hutnan Body, it is not possible to get consent from bereaved families for donation or dissection for medical purposes or pathological anatomy (European Society for Organ Transplantation et al, 2012). Families are careful to ensure they do not harm the “itai” which means the association between the dead person and the bereaved people.

Attitude, belief and behavior toward organ donation

A survey regarding public attitudes, belief and behavior towards donation and transplantation of organ was conducted in Turkey community (European Society for Organ Transplantation et al, 2012). According to the survey, which followed a stratified random approach 50.5% interviewee, were much willing to carry out organ donation on their own accord whereas 33.7% were reluctant whilst the rest of 15.8% interviewee were uncertain. As Jacobs, Sampilo, Samad & O’Connor (2016) points out, the reasons behind refusal to transplant live organs is the fear of their bodies being cut into pieces representing a percent of 43.8%. 26.2% represented religious beliefs and 23.1% no reason while 6.9% had a belief that they will need their organs and body for their second life. This survey clearly indicates that attitude, beliefs and individual behavior play a significant role in influencing the acceptance of the idea of organ donation (Hakim, 2012). This is not associated with the age and sex of the people at east according to the survey as most of the participants held similar beliefs and opinions concerning the issues. Values, spiritual believe, and product knowledge as shown below causes either a positive or negative attitude towards organ donation.

Strategies to changing negative attitudes towards donation of organ

Generally, attitudes of organ transplantation greatly affect individual behavior. Therefore, positive attitude results to greater willingness to organ donation (Humar, Payne & Matas, 2011). According to research conducted by western countries, attitude towards donation of organ is hindered by numerous factors, which include, culture, religion, education and socioeconomic factors (Shelton & Balint, 2012). Therefore, multiple measures that encourage the public to support organ transplant should be taken to enable change of current widespread of negative attitude towards the donation. The measures include

Implementing relevant legislation

Legislation regulating system deficiency makes donation organ considered the unattractive and inaccessible process in many countries (Youngner, Fox, & O'Connell, 20013). Therefore, relevant legislation measures should be put in place in order to ensure there is proper protection of donors’ rights, fair distribution of organ and proper standardization of donation process (Shelton & Balint, 2015). To this end, legislation reforms that regulate transplantation of the organ may encourage people to embrace favorable attitudes on organ transplant. A good example is in the three countries such as the US, Israel, and China, which put in place various measures to influence organ donation (Weimer, 2010). The US enacted Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) in 1968 which stipulates any person over the age of 18 can donate either partial or whole body and also that relative have a right to donate organs from the family member of deceased in case there is no opposition with evidence of valid document from the same family. in Israel, the Organ Transplantation Act and Brain-Respiratory Death Act (OTA & BRDA) were introduced in 2008 and tremendously yield superb results: whereby organ donors by cadaveric increased from 7.8 to 11 per million people from people between 1998 and 2010 to 2011 (Holman & Karner-Hu?uleac, 2012).

Enhancing publicity and education campaigns

Concerned stakeholders such as medical practitioners should play an active role in sensitizing the people on the significance of organ donation and transplantation in saving lives. Many people lack adequate knowledge concerning the issue, which adversely affects their attitudes and beliefs towards the idea (Stuart, Abecassis & Kaufman, 2015). People should get informed through educational campaigns as a means of changing their attitudes and embracing the idea of organ transplant. Public knowhow of organ donation, social responsibility, and moral consciousness will be enhanced through increased publicity and education (Petechuk, 2014). Thus, a plan to enhance publicity and education can play a noteworthy role in assisting the public to overcome current organ shortage challenges

Encouraging family discussions

As Moazam (2006) propose, family Consent is necessary for donation of organ; therefore, family disapproval has a important role. Now, organ transplant is implored from the kin relatives after the demise of the patient because the members will tend to reject the advance so long as the patient is alive. Family members are thus significant in performing a successful organ donation (Kelly, 2014). A possible donor should thus be encouraged to discuss the possibility of being a donor with the other members to control the stigma associated with the process. Through this, donor can give consent and relive the family members of making the decision.

Training medical staff and students

According to Trzepacz, & DiMartini (2013), Medical staffs are normally the first to identify potential organ donors. The staffs then advise hospitals and the concerned parties of a possibility of organ transplant. Medical workers can provide health education to public to encourage organ transplant amongst probable families and donors (Hakim, 2012). Therefore, in order for medical staff to execute this responsibility they should specifically train in the necessary skills.

Incentives for organ donation

The following incentive measures should be put in place to promote organ donation. Establishment of an organ incentive system, publicity strengthening, moderate economic reimbursement granting, and social benefit optimization for organ donors as well as to their families can have a huge significance to overcome organ shortage (Ley & Salim, 2011). In addition, hospital costs, and health expenses, can be partly refunded for the bereaved families of the donors hence promote donation of organ. Furthermore, nonmonetary benefits such as low local taxes, fuel, and education subsidies should be given to organ donors as well as their families. Moreover, donors of organ ought to be given certain monetary reimbursement from charities

Conclusion

Organ donation saves life of a person as well as improves his health and life quality. Whether alive or dead a human being can help others through an organ transplant. The government can eliminate negative attitude, and beliefs about donation, and encourage transplantation through incentive, medical staff training, and family discussion among others. Major religions support organ donation and transplantation. To this end, organ donation has immense significance.