Issues of Organ Donation

Organ transplantation--the surgical removal of a human organ, such as a kidney, lungs or heart, from one person and its placement in another--takes place regularly around the world. According to the World Health Association, about 93,000 such transplants took place in 2005.

Organ Condition

• One of the issues surrounding organ donation is the condition of donated organs. The National Health Service in the United Kingdom reported that 26 percent of transplants are made with organs taken from high-risk donors who smoked or used drugs because of a shortage of donations.

Living Donors

• The transplantation of organs from living donors--which has become increasingly common in the United States in recent years--presents physicians with an ethical dilemma. They must risk the life of a healthy donor to save, or prolong, the life of a recipient.

Transplant Tourism

• "Transplant tourism" is a term coined to describe the purchase of an organ by a foreign patient who travels to the country of origin for the purpose of an organ transplant. Intermediaries and health-care providers in poorer countries recruit, and pay, donors who may donate their organs for financial gain.