Transplant

Currently in the UK, organ donation is voluntary and organ donors carry a card stating which organs they are willing to donate after death. However in Wales there is a new scheme proposed for 2015, where it will be presumed that organs are for donation after death unless people have stated otherwise. This is known as the ‘Human Transplantation Act 2013’ and it is hoped it will raise the transplant donation by 25%.

There is a huge demand for organ donation, for example within 2012, 7593 people were left on the waiting list despite 2413 people having donated. There is a huge need for an increase in donators from certain ethnicities, such as in Asian communities where kidney failure is three times more likely therefore the need for donors is more. It is important is important the organ is matched well to the recipient for the greatest chance of success, and those from the same ethnic group are likely to be a close match. Those who are rare tissue types may only be able to accept organ donations from someone in the same ethnic origin.

Before organ transplant occurs, it has to be insured blood type of donor and recipient is compatible, and that the organ is healthy. Although the checking must be thorough, it has to happen quickly due to the lifespan of organs outside the body. For example, thoracic organs such as the heart and lungs can survive outside the body for only 4-6 hours while kidneys can survive up to 36 hours and livers, up to 12. The proximity of the donor and recipient is also an important factor and can be a main decider on whether the transplant can occur.  

References:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-24032031
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Organ-donation/Pages/Introduction.aspx http://organdonor.gov/about/organmatching.html

Abortion

Recently in the news there has been consistent criticism of two doctors who organised an abortion due to the gender of the unborn child. The recent headline ‘Hunt concerned by lack of prosecutions in gender abortion case’ encouraged me to research further into the ethics behind abortion.

Abortion is the termination of pregnancy through medical intervention (unlike a miscarriage) and is currently legal during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy in the UK. The Abortion Act makes it necessary that two doctors must confirm that the procedure would cause less damage to the female’s mental and physical health then carrying on with the pregnancy. The doctors in the recent news case abide the law by giving consent of two doctors however it is described as a ‘Selective Abortion’ where the foetus is described to have undesirable characteristics (in this case being the wrong sex). An alternative example of selective abortion would be when the pregnancy involves multiple foetuses. The abortions described in the Abortion Act are known as ‘therapeutic abortions’ which occur due to the health of the mother or child.

So should Selective Abortions be able to occur? 

People believe therapeutic abortion is justified to a higher extent than selective abortion, despite the fact that abortion as a whole is despised by many people. There are many problems with selective abortion, it could lead to imbalance in the population and its described as unjustified to terminate a 'life' due to the gender. 

The largest debate is whether abortions are 'right' or 'wrong' and whether they should be legal or illegal. Those against abortion describe the procedure as 'murder' because its destroying a life without the consent of that human being. On the other hand, those pro-abortion argue its the mothers choice, its unjustified to affect the health of the mother or the baby and finally in the first 24 weeks the foetus is not a 'human' so doesn't have the right to life.  However those against it would argue life begins within those 24 weeks.

There is not defined answer to when a life is created. The first theory is it begins at fertilisation of the sperm and the egg inside the womb, because this is the point when DNA is selected with the potential for a human to exist. It is this theory that most of those against abortion believe. The next stage considered to be the beginning of life occurs three weeks after contraception when the brain, spinal cord, heart and other organs begin to form. It is a week later that the heart begins to pump blood, this is a major argument in the debate against abortion because someone is determined dead when their heart stops beating. Therefore in using the same theory, the foetus pumping blood must be determined as 'living.' Alternatively if life is defined when the foetus begins to breathe, it can be considered 'alive' much later at around 30 weeks after contraception. 

To conclude due to there being no clarity when a foetus becomes 'living' it is impossible to decide how far along it can be justified as not destroying a life. In the UK it is decided on Fetus viability, around 24 weeks which is the age that the foetus can survive outside the uterus. 

References:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23968107

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Abortion/Pages/Introduction.aspx

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/selective_1.shtml

http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/child/alive_1.shtml