Assignment 1
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School
Rutgers University *
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Course
01:119:150
Subject
Medicine
Date
Jan 9, 2024
Type
Pages
3
Uploaded by KidSnowAlbatross25
1) The Organdonor.gov website provides a large amount of information about the process of
organ donation and the need for donation. I would encourage you to use the “Learn About
Donation” link and then look at the "What can be donated", "How donation works" (make sure to
also click on "Donation after Life" and "Donation While Alive") and "Who can donate" links to
answer the following questions. (1 point)
a) What types of organs can a deceased donor provide? Briefly describe the process that occurs
during a donation after life.
When someone dies a person can donate kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, pancreas, intestines, hands
and face. First the doctors try to save the individual, and even put them on life support. The
doctors then conduct tests to see if the patient has no brain activity (Brain Death). If the doctor
confirms brain death they not the time of death and can now start the organ donation process.
The local Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) decides if the patient counts as being a
possible donor. In order for the OPO to donate your organs they must have your legal consent or
ask the closest blood relative for approval. The OPO also gets a complete medical and social
history from the individual's family. Once you are approved after all that then the OPO contacts
the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). THe OPTN is a national database
that has all the patients in the U.S. that are waiting for a transplant. The OPO searches the system
for patients that match the donor's information. The transplant surgeon gets to make the final call
on whether or not the organ is good for the patient. A different surgical team (separate from the
medical team that tried to save your life) will come in and remove the donor’s organs and tissue
and then close all cuts made so the individual can still have an open-casket funeral. The organs
only have a short time before they are unusable so they move the organs as soon as possible to its
intended destination. Finally, the transport team arrives with the new organ and the new organs
go into the patient.
b) What types of organs can a living donor provide? Briefly describe the process that occurs
during a donation from a living individual.
A living individual can donate one kidney, one lung, a part of the liver, a part of the pancreas,
and a part of the intestine. A living person can also donate skin, bone, healthy cells from bone
marrow and umbilical cord blood, amnion, and blood. First, the doctors make sure that the
individual is in good health and won't cause you to suffer from negative physical or emotional
pain. The individual can not have or have a history of diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure,
kidney disease, or heart disease. The federal government doesn’t encourage living donors
because they don't know the short or long term effects. After the transplant is done, transplant
centers follow up with donors, and have found that, on average, living donors do well over the
long term. They also found that you could suffer from slight medical problems that don’t develop
until years later.
2) The SRTR contains information about how many people are waiting for a transplant and how
many received a transplant. Go to the SRTR website (URL given above) and then at the top of
the page where it says "Find and compare Transplant programs" use the pull-down menu to
select "kidney" (don't fill in zip code yet) and hit search. Then on the next page select the state
"NJ" in the location area and "adult" under recipient, then hit update.
You should get a list
containing the five kidney transplant centers in NJ. The forth one on your list should be Robert
Wood Johnson University Hospital, New Brunswick, NJ (RWJUH), click on the “View Summary
Data” tab and answer the following questions.
(1 point)
a) How many patients were on the waitlist at the start (July 2021) and at the end of the reporting
period (June 2022) for the center? Why were people removed from the list? How many were
removed for each reason?
As of July 2021 there were 277 people on the waitlist and at the end of June 2022 there were 313
people on the waitlist. 115 people were removed from the list because 57 received transplants, 1
transferred to another center, 18 people died, 9 people deteriorated, 0 recovered, and 30 people
had some other situation then the ones listed.
b) Now scroll down to look at the "Time to Transplant". Click on the 1 year bubble - what is the
percent of individuals on the waitlist at RWJUH who received a transplant in one year? What is
that number nationally? Now click on the 3 year bubble and answer the questions for that time
point.
The percentage of individuals on the waitlist at RWJUH who received a transplant in one year is
7.1%. Nationally, 19.1% received a transplant in one year. The percentage of individuals on the
waitlist at RWJUH who received a transplant in three years is 15%. Nationally, 32.4% received a
transplant in three years.
c) How many patients received a transplant between July 2021 and June 2022 at RWJUH? How
many from deceased donors? How many from live donors? You will find this information
below the "Time to Transplant" section.
Between July 2021 and June 2022, 58 people at RWJUH received transplants. 40 of those
donations were from deceased donors. 18 of the transplants were from living donors.
d) Finally, find a hospital in a different state (NOT New Jersey) and answer the same questions
again (letting me know the hospital/state).
State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center (NYDS), New York
a) As of July 2021 there were 151 people on the waitlist and at the end of June 2022 there were
180 people on the waitlist. 101 people were removed from the list because 71 received
transplants, 2 transferred to another center, 4 people died, 15 people deteriorated, 0 recovered,
and 9 people had some other situation then the ones listed.
b) The percentage of individuals on the waitlist who received a transplant in one year is 8%.
Nationally, 19.1% received a transplant in one year. The percentage of individuals on the waitlist
who received a transplant in three years is 11.2%. Nationally, 32.4% received a transplant in
three years.
c) Between July 2021 and June 2022, 71 people at RWJUH received transplants. 71 of those
donations were from deceased donors. None of the transplants were from living donors.
3) To address the nation's critical organ donation shortage and improve the organ matching and
placement process, the U.S. Congress passed the National Organ Transplant Act (Public Law
98-507) in 1984.
The National Organ Transplant Act makes it illegal to sell human organs
and tissues in the United States
. Violators are subject to fines and imprisonment. Imagine that
you are a doctor who performs kidney transplants who has been asked to testify before congress.
Using the information you collected in parts 1 and 2 of this assignment
, explain whether you
would urge the politicians to change the policy enacted in The National Organ Transplant Act
concerning the selling of organs and why. Your answer will be graded based on your reasoning
(why), not whether you urge the politicians to change the policy per se. (2 points)
If I were a doctor I would not urge politicians to change The National Organ Transplant Act
because of the potential harm it could cause. If the United States government allowed for human
organs and tissues to be sold, this could lead to people trying to obtain these through dangerous
means. In question one the Organdonor.gov website states that, “
The federal government doesn’t
encourage anyone to be a living donor. We don’t know what your short- or long-term effects
could be”(HRSA). By adding a monetary value to these donations, people will be willing to
donate vital organs without fully understanding the physical and emotional ramifications of this
decision. On the other hand, by adding monetary value to organs the donation rates from living
donors would increase. We can see in question two that between July 2021 and June 2022, a
large majority of transplants were received from deceased donors. RWJUH has only 18 kidney
donations from living donors and
State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center had
even less than that with 0 kidney donations from living donors. There is also a possibility of
raising the national average of transplant rates from only 32.4% to even more. Though this
would help many people, it is too dangerous to those who are living. In a society built around
capitalism, people can be blinded by the possible monetary value they could receive rather than
the wanting to actually help individuals in need.
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