Matthew Bakkestuen ENGL 1102-027 Professor Germain Argument Essay Opt-Out In the United States, there are more

than one hundred thousand patients waiting for organ transplants and a quarter of those patients are under the age of ten years old. Those numbers are staggering and only about thirty thousand transplants are performed within a given year. Some patients can survive years with their current organs while others could be limited to weeks or days. The current opt-in organ donation system is administered by asking individuals to check yes on the back of a form when they get their drivers license. This system is inadequate. The fact that eighteen people die each day from the lack of available organs is evidence of this. By switching the system to an opt-out approach, where individuals would be automatically enrolled and would be required to check no on the drivers license form, will increase the number of people donating, allow people with legitimate reasons to still opt-out, and has been implemented with societal acceptance in other countries. Donatinglife.net released statistics that ninety percent of Americans say they support organ donations, but only thirty percent know the essential steps to take to be a donor. These numbers show that of the ninety percent of Americans that support organ donation, sixty percent do not follow through and become organ donors. This is due to the fact that these people either do not know the necessary steps or do not have the ambition to find out how to become an organ donor. That is over half of the possible organs that could be donated are not. This issue would easily be rectified by the implementation of an opt-out system. The sixty

Matthew Bakkestuen ENGL 1102-027 Professor Germain Argument Essay percent would have automatically been enrolled in the program alleviating the possibility that their organs would be left by the wayside. If only ninety percent of Americans support organ donation, who are the other ten percent? These percentages are people that have religion restrictions, false knowledge about the organ donation process or people that just do not want to. While many religions have always or are starting to actually encourage organ donation, many of the faithful believe that their religious views prohibit such acts. Mayoclinic.org has released an article explaining that most of the major religions like Catholicism, Islam, and most branches of Judaism find organ donation to be not only acceptable but encouraged. Timothy Potenz released an article that argues that an opt-out approach is a way to also overcome a sensitive barrier that most people do not like to think about their own death and planning for the future. The opt-out approach will automatically enroll everyone but still give individuals the opportunity to still optout. The lack of organ donations is global. Many other countries have or had implemented the opt-in system and ran into the same issues America is facing with the lack donors. Potenz argues that seventy percent of Germans say they would donate their organs, but only twenty-five percent of the population have actually filled out the paperwork and gotten a card. Using this statistic and Americas statistic, this shows that both countries are running into the same issue with potential donors not following through to actually become donors. Potenz

Matthew Bakkestuen ENGL 1102-027 Professor Germain Argument Essay also argues that an opt-out approach has been implemented in neighboring countries such as Austria with a ninety-nine percent acceptance rate. Potenz continues that Spains organ donation rate is currently double that of Germanys. Mary Helen Spooner writes in an article called, More Counties Hoping to Copy Spains OrganDonation Success about how Spain has thirty-four donors per million compared to twelve per million in Germany. Spain is able to achieve this by implementing a new system they call Nacional de Transplantes. This organization simply is an organization that monitors hospitals looking for potential donors. Once a donor is found this organization educates the family about the benefits of organ donation. Looking at Spains approach, some might feel that education is our best opt ion and switching to an opt-out approach is not worth it. However, this approach has already been implemented in the United States. Companies like LifeShare are designed by the federal government be the bridge between people who need transplants and the donors (About Us 1). LifeShare is based in southwestern Carolina and truly makes a difference but the statistics have not changed. There are still only thirty percent of organ supporters donating. Over one-hundred thousand people in the United States are waiting for an organ donation. Unfortunately, many may never get the call saying that a suitable donor organ and a second chance at life has been found. (Organ Donation: Dont Let These Myths Confuse You 5). Organ donation is essential and has saved countless lives but has hit the ceiling with the limitations of the current system. A new and tested opt-out system along with education

Matthew Bakkestuen ENGL 1102-027 Professor Germain Argument Essay can erase these limitations and greatly alter that ceiling. Without these limitations, the United States would increase the quantity of available organs and reduce the statistic that eighteen people die daily due to the lack of organs.

Matthew Bakkestuen ENGL 1102-027 Professor Germain Argument Essay Works Cited "About Us." LifeShare Of The Carolinas. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013. Potenz, Timothy. "Organ Donation: To Opt-in or Opt-out." Organ Donation: To Opt-in or Optout. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2013. Spooner, Mary Helen. "Canadian Medical Association Journal." More Countries Hoping to Copy Spain's Organ-donation Success. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Nov. 2013. Staff, Mayo Clinic. "Organ Donation: Don't Let These Myths Confuse You." Mayo Clinic. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 03 May 2013. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. "Statistics | Donatelife.net." Donatelifenet RSS2. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.