Mandatory Organ Donation: A Double-Edged Sword

I've always been familiar with the concept of organ donation. As far back as my elementary school days, I was aware that people donated certain parts of their bodies. Initially, I thought it was just limited to the kidney. I'd frequently hear news about how people donated kidneys to their loved ones or anyone at all. Thanks to movies and books I read, I got to know that we have two kidneys and that people can donate one and still live. I'd always wonder and try to picture what the process would be like. I mean, how do these doctors and surgeons remove someone’s kidney and transplant it to another person's body? Fascinating!

As I grew older, I got to know that the kidney isn't the only organ that can be donated. In fact, I read in a book (or an article somewhere) that people donate- well, they sell, not donate, their toes in a particular country. If my memory is still as fresh as a newly brewed wine, a toe costs about 20 million naira. Imagine how much you'd make if you sold all your toes (use this information wisely.) Looking back, it seems I have been on a learning spree this year. About a month ago, I learnt something new about organ donation from a friend: when someone dies, and no one claims the body for a particular period. Say 6 months? I'm pretty sure there is a rule regarding this. The person’s dead body is donated to labs and hospitals for research purposes. However, the body is donated to another state. For example, if the body is in Lagos state, it cannot be donated to hospitals within Lagos state, but to hospitals in other states.

Here's a tricky question: if the government were to issue a decree that all healthy organs must be taken from the recently deceased and donated to the sick people who might need them, what would you do, and do you think this is good or bad? After pondering on this topic for a while, I concluded that like everything, organ donation has its advantages and disadvantages. First off, let’s analyze this question thoroughly. The use of “must” in this topic means mandatory, right? In simple words, mandatory organ donation. Meaning, that all dead bodies with healthy organs will be tampered with. For instance, family XYZ loses their son to a car accident and some of the organs are still intact. The rule will be that family XYZ, whether they like it or not, must sacrifice their son’s organs to help the sick people who need it.

As I mentioned above, mandatory organ donation has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the advantages of this law is that it will save many lives. I’ll break it down: if the government issue a decree that all organ must be taken from the recently deceased and donated to people who might need it, it means organs wouldnt be a treasure only the rich can access. A Nigerian Celebrity, TG Omori is currently bsttling with his health. Recently, I read that his brother donated one his kidneys to save his life. I've heard stories of many people who lost their lives because they couldn't afford an organ transplant. Every day, I come across posts on different social platforms about people needing millions for organ transplants. Charity programs are prompted to support them. The last one I came across was a teenager who needed a kidney transplant. At the end of the day, some of them luckily gather enough money for the transplant, while others unfortunately lose their lives in the process. If this rule were in place, it would mean that people would not suffer to get their organs replaced. All they'd need to do is fill a form or something and then, boom!

Moving on to the disadvantages, not all families would want their dead to be harvested. However, the law states that all healthy organs MUST be taken from the recently deceased. This means that failure to comply will lead to heavy punishment. This would inflict heavy trauma on families and friends. The deceased should be honored and respected- their bodies shouldn't be tampered with without the consent of their families. Okay, let’s use this example as a casestudy. Consider a family (say family XYZ) who tragically lost their son in a car accident, but refuses to donate his healthy organs to the government, going against the decree. According to the topic, failure to do this would lead to heavy punishment. This means that the government would punish them- vandalize their properties and forcefuly seize the body. Imagine the psychological and emotional trauma this would cause. In so many countries, the government would get away with this and no one would do anything about it.

Also, this decree would be a very bloody idea in a country such as Nigeria. Considering the amount of corruption and crime rate, the government would turn this into a business and exploit it for financial gain while others might become organ stealers. If implemented in a country like Nigeria, the government would forcefully take organs and sell them to people. At the end of everything, only the rich would be able to afford them.

In my opinion, the disadvantages of this decree outweigh the advantages. I agree that mandatory organ donation has its own advantages, but the disadvantages isn’t something we can handle. So, it is best to leave things the way they are.

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Thanks for reading.