The United States has always had an opt-in policy for organ donation; people who want to donate must give a consent which is usually on their driver’s license (Kirszner and Mandell 614). The United States has the highest donation rate amongst other countries that also have the opt-in policy or, “presumed consent”; 38 percent of adults are organ donors (Kirszner and Mandell 614). I have been working in the Emergency Room for the past five years and I have seen a lot of unfortunate deaths. I have also seen the family of the deceased deal with not knowing if their loved one wanted to donate their organs or not because they never formally recorded their wishes. With the opt-out policy, families would not have to be put into that situation; they could focus more on grieving and less on decision making. With the opt-out policy, it will allow removal of organ and tissue transplant unless the deceased person, while alive, opposed becoming a donor (Carney 614). The United States should have and opt-out policy for organ donation.
The first reason that the United States should have an opt-out organ donation is that it would dramatically increase the supply of donor organs. According to researchers, there would be an increase of from 16 percent to 50 percent availability of organs; some researchers also say this would eliminate the shortage of organs (Carney 616-617). With an opt-out system, donor lists might fade away. According to the British Medical Journal online, almost 300 extra organ transplants could be performed each year if people were asked to 'opt out' of donating instead of the current 'opt in' system (Smith). Many thousands of people die every year waiting for organs that never come, and many viable organs are never made available for donation. Currently there are more than 90,000 people on a donor list, but only 14,000 donors enter the system each year (Carney 615). With the opt-out policy those 90,000 people should not have to wait as long.
The second...