DEATH ROW INMATES AND ORGAN DONATION Should death row inmates in American prisons be allowed to donate their organs? Zineb Ennijm Virginia Commonwealth University Authors note This paper was prepared for UNIV 112, taught by Dr. Corner.
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Mitchell Jones enjoys spending time with his family, even though he is very shy, his
smile always brightened the room during interviews. Mitchell is a boy who is not only loved by his family but by social media as well, as the whole world watched his journey. Mitchell Jones suffers from from cardiomyopathy and the muscles in his heart were deteriorating very quickly. His journey eventually came to an end. Without the proper organ donation, Mitchell Jones, just ten years old, died from heart failure in his own bed surrounded by his family. There are over 100,000 people in the United States awaiting donor organs, and almost 20 of them die every day. A single healthy person can save countless of lives by donating their organs to those in need. So why not death row inmates be allowed to save the lives of others?. With most Americans cautious of donating their organs, we should consider harvesting organs of those on death row. Death row inmates should be a practical source of transplantable organs. The use of death row inmates’ organs has been a controversial topic in America. The question of ethics is also very relevant. In fact, the article, Should A DeathRow Inmate be allowed to donate organs , includes a decision made by Ohio Governor, John Kasich to delay the execution of a rapist and murderer, so his request to donate organs to his ill mother and sister can be studied. This request raised concerns among doctors and patients because Organ donations by inmates is generally not allowed in the U.S. Although, the article included that in 1995 an inmate
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in Delaware donated his kidney to his mother. Governor Kasich included in a statement that “another life can be saved.” And that seems pretty logical to save another life. If an inmate who committed a crime wants to make an amend at death, that is better than letting others die due to the lack of registered donors.
Death row inmates are also human beings and have feelings of their owns, some of them
want to a have chance of redemption. For example, the article, Prisoners on Death Row should be Accepted as Organ donors, discusses how a death row inmate could save a life regardless of what they have done. They are simply helping individuals that are suffering from endstage organ disease. In the United States, organ donation is governed by the t he National Transplant Act of 1984 and the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act. The articled included that neither acts prohibit organ donation from death row inmates. The National Transplant Act states that organ donation can’t be made for “valuable considerations,” in this case, a shorter sentence for the donor, which is not an issue for a death row inmate. The article included a murder case of Christian Longo. Ten years ago, Longo had a history of minor crimes and believed the only way to out was relieving his family by strangling his two year old daughter and his wife, Mary Jane and sentenced to death. In a New York Times editorial,“Giving life after death row”, Christian Longo made a statement where he said,”I believe that a profound benefit to society can come from my circumstances.” He went on to say, “I have asked to end my remaining appeals, and
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then donate my organs after my execution to those who need them.” Longo claimed that other inmates wanted to do the same. Harvesting organs from prisoners is a strategy to increase cadaveric organs. For the same reason, this article, The Ethics of Organ Transplantation, reveals ways in which as a society we can increase the amount of organs donated. One of them being using organs taken from prisoners who are put to death. It includes that it is the execution that it is unethical not the organ removal. Not using the organs for transplant seems a bit wasteful. According to the a reading in a 1999 article, John Robertson included that obtaining organs from death row inmates is allowed. He went on to say, “prisoner or their next of kin consents to donation, as long as organ donation is not the means by which the prisoner is killed “, because it violates the principle that a donor be dead before donation. Despite the fact of the increase in saving more lives, many people are still criticizing the use of death row inmates’ organs. For instance, the article, “Should states let death row inmates donate organs?”, includes the idea that no law prohibits death row inmates from donating their organs. In a country that is in need of organ donations, many die without receiving a transplant. A prisoner's request can save many lives. The article states that some may argue that the prisoners might be infected with sexually transmitted diseases such as, HIV and hepatitis, as well as other infectious disease that can harm the organs. Although these disease are prevalent among prisoners, a testing could screen prisoners before their execution.
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Even though using prisoners’ organs seems like such a great idea, certain people have different opinions about it. In this case, the article, “Editorial position on publishing articles on human organ transplantation”, discussed about the increase in demand for organ transplantation in China over the past 20 years. One can argue that many surgeons in China are violating medical ethics and basic human rights by the use of organs from executed prisoners in order to perform transplants. This article also discussed about “transplant tourists”, which is the name for people who travel to China to get illegal transplant, has rapidly increase within the past ten years. There had been protests by many medical teams against the use of executed prisoners as organ donors. Many politicians are also joining the fight for using prisoners’ organ donors. Take the case of this piece, written by Mark Anderson, explained about a bill proposed by several Missouri legislatures on a program call “LifeforLife”. This program states that prisoners on death row could have their sentences reduced to life without parole if they agree to donate a kidney or bone marrow for someone in need. Also it discussed about how organs from living donor is generally better than a dead one because of a better tissue match. This proposal is getting a lot of attention because instead of killing a prisoner and take their organs, they are willing to give you their organs for redemption in life but also be able to live and pay for their mistakes. Not only America is pursuing the idea of using death row inmates’ donors, many other countries are joining us also. “Kidneys for Life” is a name that’s been given to a proposal in
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Philippines for inmates who are willing to donate their organs after execution. In Philippines, prisoners were first used as organ donors in the 1970s and today their government wants to acknowledge what they’ve done to save many people despite their crimes. This program proposes that the prisoner’s family get a certain reward depends on what they donate. It will give many families the beneficial of knowing that their love ones did one right things before the execution. Even though many politicians opposed against that program, the government still believe that “Kidneys for life” will be an effective program and they are working to pass that bill soon. Since Philippines is our ally, America should adopt the same bill and test it out in some states to see if it’s effective. Furthermore, Donnie J. Perales stated that “It seems like a terrible waste ... if you could use their organs, it would mean a lot of people could live." in his article “Rethinking the prohibition of death row prisoners as organ donors.”. He would also explained that despite the advance in medical science that we achieve today, many patients are unable to receive the transplant that they need due to shortage of organs. In 2001, approximately of 70,000 Americans are on the organ donors waiting list which means that half of those patients could die if they don’t get the help they need. Even though many American favor organ donation, only a few of them are willing to donate their own organs which bring up the question “Why don’t we use the organs of prisoners on the death row with their permissions”.
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While many ethical questions and concerns rise with organ donations from death row prisoners, some may question as to why this practice should be legal?. That is because by giving these death row inmates the chance to donate vital organs, it allows them to save another life. It is best to take their proposals into consideration. By allowing this practice these inmates cannot only do something right for their actions but also save another life. Millions of Americans await for organs and because certified organ donors are so scarce, many do not receive any. As a society we should allow inmates to donate organs to save the lives of others.
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References Mitchell's Journey. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from http://www.cspan.org/video/?c4449389/mitchellsjourney Organ Donation and Transplantation Statistics. (2014, August 12). Retrieved December 1, 2015, from https://www.kidney.org/news/newsroom/factsheets/OrganDonationandTransplantationStats Should A DeathRow Inmate Be Allowed To Donate Organs? (n.d.). Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/11/15/deathroworgans Lin, S., Rich, L., Pal, J., & Sade, R. (n.d.). Prisoners on Death Row Should be Accepted as Organ Donors. Retrieved November 17, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3388804/ Cameron JS, Hoffenberg R. The ethics of organ transplantation reconsidered: Paid organ donation and the use of executed prisoners as donors. Kidney International 1999, 55: 724732. Wireston, C. (2011, June 1). SHOULD STATES LET DEATH ROW INMATES DONATE ORGANS? Diabetes Health , pp. P2121. Caplan, A. L., Rockman, H. A., & Turka, L. A. (2012). Editorial position on publi shing articles on human organ transplantation. Journal of Clinical Investigation , 122 (1) de Castro, L. D.. (2003). Human Organs from Prisoners: Kidneys for Life. Journal of Medical Ethics , 29 (3), 171–175. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.db29.linccweb.org/stable/27719058 .34 St. Mary's L. J. 687. Retrieved from www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic . 6 50 Syracuse L. Rev. 951. Retrieved from www.lexisnexis.com/hottopics/lnacademic
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