Organ donation?

Question

How do you feel about death row inmates donating their organs after they are executed? I mean there are over 79,000 people awaiting organ transplat and over 1 million on death row. why not use their organs if they were safe? Another question can kids recive adult organs?

Answer 1

First off, if you're talking about the US, there's only around 3,300 people on death row. Also, I think any sort of forced organ donation would be ruled unconstitutional. If you can get around that, it would be easy enough to devise a method of execution that keeps the organs unharmed, such as severing the brainstem from the rest of the brain. It would be simple to see if it was safe for them to donate; there's tests for that already, and not much matters other than retroviruses, cancer, and the condition of the organs.

Kids can recieve adult livers, lungs, intestine, and pancreas, since these organs can be cut to size. Kidneys and hearts might be usable depending on the size, but they only function when whole. Everyone else who said kids can't use adult organs haven't done any research.

Answer 2

In order for most organs to be viable you need a "beating heart donor" - in other words a donor who has been rendered brain dead, but is still at the point where bodily functions continue. Some organs such as skin, tendon, ligament, bone, cornea, etc can be retreived after the heart stops beating - but most "solid" organs must be harvested while the heart still beats. This is why in an organ procurement the heart is removed last.
The manner of death for most executions prevents a beating heart donation which would render almost all of the solid organs unusable. Then you also have to deal with the lifestyle that the donor lived - which means you are likely to see drug use, poorly managed chronic health problems, and a very high risk of blood borne disease. There is also the mentality - people who are put to death are not known as being upstanding nice citizens. How truthful are they going to be on a history form?
Then there is the ethical issue. When a patient is rendered brain dead the family has to consent to the donation and then the procurement team works the patient up to see that they are fit for donation while the patient is maintained on life support. In order to do this with an inmate awaiting execution we would have to work that person up while they are still living as this process can take several hours, and sometimes a day to complete. Is working up a condemned man ethically acceptable - many people would argue against that.

On the last question - no adult organs cannot be used for children. Donor and recipient have to be of similar size.

Answer 3

There may be a million people on death row but how many of them are actually executed in a year? It's probably less than 6 in the United States. It's a very small number that wouldn't put a dent in the request for organs.

The reason people are reluctant to require inmates to donate organs is because you may end up in a situation like in China where prisoners are being executed for lesser reasons just for the opportunity to harvest organs. The perception that that might happen is enough to require society to be sure that prisoner's organs are not donated in any circumstance.

I don't believe a child can take an adult organ but only based on their physical size.

Answer 4

I would think that MOST death row inmates' organs are not usable due to drug use, disease, etc. But they shouldn't go to waste if they are usable either. It would be a way to contribute something positive to a society they have otherwise hurt.

No, kids can't receive adult organs - too big for them. Organs have to be the right size for the receiver's body.

Answer 5

I would say why not. As for adult organs in kids, some like the liver or kidneys an be cut down a bit. I could be wrong. good question

Answer 6

there is no way a kid can recive a adults organ cause the organ would not be excepted by the kid and the death row thing if the peson is healthy (no serious desise or drugs) then yeah

Answer 7

I think it's a great idea! It should be mandatory for them to donate whatever good organs they have. At least they would have done something good, it's the least they could do! after all it's the tax payers who are supporting them while in prison this can be their way of paying back their debt.

Answer 8

on adult organs.. they can do a partial liver transplant ,, they can take just part of a liver, and a healthy liver will grow and regenerate itself,if death was by injection I am sure the poison would render the organs unusable.. Good question I don't know how to answer it

Answer 9

I don't know about the kid thing and I think people still have the right to do with their remains as they want even if they are incarcerated.

Answer 10

i would donate organs hahahhaahahahahaha