Should children be used as organ donors? Current Japanese policy prohibitions are currently being considered for revision. Read the articles below as background information and then state (and defend) your position.
Japan May End Ban from Yahoo! News
Pediatric Group May Accept Child Organ Donations from Japan Times Online
Organ Transplant Law Falls Short (pdf) from Daily Yomiuri Online
Proposal for Organ Transplant Law Revision from International Network for Life Studies
Japan Ends Ban On Child Organ Donations from Yahoo! News
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Just as adult organs are needed for transplantation, so are the organs of children. Organ donation for children is just as important because although certain organs can be transplanted from adult to child (pieces of liver, etc) other organs cannot. Children need child size organs for transplant, i.e. heart transplants. It is vital for Japan to lift this ban and allow the harvesting of organs from brain dead children. Many lives can be saved from one donation of a child who has already expired. As long as parental or guardian consent has been given there should be no reason not to give a second chance at life for those children in need of organs. The lifting of this ban would give many Japanese children an otherwise non-existent chance of life. In addition, if Japan lifts the ban, the U.S. will have more organs for our transplant patients, instead of sharing the organs with the Japanese. Not that there is anything wrong with seeking outside help for a dying child, but if Japan had a larger supply of organs for their children, so would we.
Children can be used as organ donors only when they are dead, disconnected from all instruments and with consent of the child’s family. I don’t support the old Japanese ban on child organ transplant, and I support the new law which allows child organ transplants, because saving lives is the most important thing. I understand the Japanese tradition of preserving the body, but there is no reason to not use organs in the best way possible, for saving lives. As some of the articles state, organs for children are not always available. Japan’s government should take into consideration the growth of their new generation of people, the children.
I believe that children need to be able to receive a transplant as do the adults. As long as it is coming from children who are considered to be brain dead children. I don’t really feel live children donations should be a main practice. We need to be able to save the children as much as possible. I don’t believe it to be wrong for the donations to take place. I’m sure that if the parents of the brain dead children are fine with the donations it is great that they can then help another child live.
I think the revision Transplantation Law by Masahiro Morioka and Tateo Sugimoto will be of a great help for Japan's people. This new law would permit children under 15 years old medically brain death to be able to donate with permission of parents. It will give Japan the opportunity to open doors for better health treatments and help people. They would not have the great necessity to be going to the United States for donation. I believe that Japan religious views of protecting the body or as many believe "one is alive until the heart fails" as one of the articles states should be respected BUT, I believe if you can save many life’s by donating a legal brain death person organs it should be done. I think greater than all those beliefs of preserving the body is the selfless love. Many people can be helped by this new proposal.
Yes I feel that children should be able to donate organs especially if that parent, legal guardian and/or child agrees/agreed to it, but only if that child has now passed on. I don’t think children should be used as organ donors if they are still living (no matter the situation, brain dead or not).
An organ transplant saves lives. There are so many children that need organs transplants, but unlike the liver (it can be divided and placed into a child) many adult organs can not be transplanted into a child, they are simply just too big. If children organ donation was not an option, children who needed them would die.
I do not think donated organs should come from children that are brain dead. I understand that when someone is brain dead the machine is breathing, keeping the heart beating and pumping for them. Why would anyone want to keep the machines going but remove organs from that child? That seems unethical to me. Wouldn’t it make since to just turn off the machine? I don’t understand it, is it that the family is not ready to let go and that why they are willing to donate organs but keep them on the machine? I seems pretty creepy to me.
I also feel that healthy children should not be an organ donor either; donating could affect their quality of life. The only donate-able organs a living child has are kidneys and maybe a lung. At a young age that neither should be remove. It shouldn’t be removed because you just never know; they may need it when they get older. What if that child donates an organ, gets sick, and needs that organ. Let’s say a kidney for instances and that one kidney they had left fails, they are simply out of luck. That is not fair to that child.
Yes donating saves lives but we want to respect, honor, and considered the living child first (even if they are brain dead). A parent or legal guardian should only be able to donate an organ if that child is deceased.
I think children should be considered for organ donation. I think it is great that Japan finally lifted the ban against anyone under the age of 15 although it looks like they are working on provisions now that will only go as young as 12 years old. Brain dead children donating their organs with the families consent can do nothing but help other young children even though some Japanese feel it would be a great way for agressive parents to hide the fact that their child died from abuse.Since Australia, Britain,and Germany have already made it known that they would not transplant organs to a Japanese decent,Japanese could benefit by allowing all ages to be involved that would help save more people and at the same time give children a chance.
Regarding Japan’s ban on child organ donation, although I do believe their initial intent was in the best interest of children it did not consider the many scenarios and difficulties surrounding child organ donation. As there are many adults in need of organ transplants there are just as many, if not more, children waiting for donations. In the case with child donation, child size organs are needed. While I do not agree with live child donation, I do support child donations from children who have died or from children declared brain dead whose life support will be terminated. To outright ban any child organ donation is too consider the life of a child to be less than that of an adult. As it is within our best interest to protect children, it would be ethical to protect the future of health of children by excluding them from donation while prohibiting donation from recently deceased children or brain dead children who will be taken off life support, both with the permission of the family of course. It is a necessary must for Japan to reconsider their position regarding child organ donation, Japan is responsible for their children’s future.
Healthy young children should not be used as organ donors. They are not adults and may or may not have the mental capacity to fully understand the consequences of their actions. Donating organs is a permanent action; there is no going back and retrieving that kidney if you decide you want it later in life. Now, if we are talking about preteen/teenage children that’s a little different of a story. If they are of sound mind and able to make decisions of this magnitude on their own organ donation is a viable option that can be checked out. I would also support the donation of organs for children that have lost function and most likely will not live. If good organs can be harvested from a child that is perhaps brain dead or similar I would be all for this action.
I agree with the new legislation that was just passed in Japan. Children under the age of 15 that have lost brain function should be allowed to donate organs if the parents wish to do so. The wishes of the donor need to be respected when the guardians decide whether or not to donate.
The organs of children are needed to, if this measure can help the life of another child then I’m all for it, with the above mentioned stipulations of course.
Children need to have access to life saving organs. The organs should come from brain dead children. Having donors that do not fit this criteria have no place in the donor system. The parents of the brain dead children are able to feel the powerful feeling of helping an other family facing the loss of their own children. With many families needing organs to save their children a ban on organ transplants does not allow these families the opportunity to do everything they can do to save their children s life. The organs of the donors would otherwise be disposed of instead of continuing life for another child. Transplants serve the two purposes allowing the donors family closure, and the sick children an chance at a life
Japan’s recent removal of organ transplant ban for children is a cause for celebration. Organ donation is extremely limited for children around the world. There are very few children that die at an early enough age for many children in need of a new organ. Children can not accept adult organs in many cases…they are too large. The death of a child is extremely painful, especially when there are no options available to save their life. We don’t want to see parent’s creating a life to harvest its organs for another child…that would be murder, so a logical decision would be to allow organ donation from a child that has died or is brain dead.
Brain death in my opinion is equivalent to heart death. When there is only lower brain stem activity remaining, life ultimately ceases to exist. The brain dead person will never get out of bed and carry on a “normal” life…ever. I feel organ donation will help another to live making the death of a brain dead person honorable. I think most people would choose to help another live if they knew ahead of time they were going to die. The problem is, you do not usually know ahead of time and at what age do you have that conversation? Most parents are not going to sit their 4 year old down and ask them if they were brain dead, would they want to be considered dead and do they want to donate their organs. The previous Japanese law outlining this was ridiculous.
If the child is brain dead from child abuse, why is it immoral for them to be an organ donor? They are still brain dead regardless of how, and organ donation is not for profit so the parents are not benefiting. I do believe there should be a waiting period before organ transplant takes place if there is any suspicion of child abuse so the courts can obtain enough evidence to prosecute the parents. After that, the child’s organs should be made available for transplant.
My concern is about the timing of the law change. Why did it take other countries refusing to perform organ transplants for Japanese travelers to change the Japanese law? Because 30% of the population did not think organ transplant was acceptable the law stood as long as the Japanese could go somewhere else. How was this fair to the other countries patients that were waiting for an organ transplant? As it is, there are not enough organs available to fill the need of recipients, why should a countries citizen be bumped down the list for a “traveler” who has money? This makes the whole organ transplant system seem a little shady, for profit, and black-market like. I believe each country should take care of their own citizens. If you choose to leave your home country, you should be a legal citizen of the new country before being eligible for an organ transplant. I just think that is the only way to prevent abuse of the system.
All organs donations and transplants are done for the sole purpose of saving or prolonging another person's life.Its not a question of why those organs are acquired but how.Children should be organ donors on the prospect that by doing so their lives will not be in danger and another child's life will be saved.If i was 10 years old today and my brother needed a kidney,bone marrow or a piece o my liver,sure,why not.If by doing so i will add a few years to his life and deduct nothing from mine,then i will be happy to be my brother's keeper!
However,not every so called organ donation is without potential risks,and this is where the doctors,parents and the government should step in.The doctors involved should clearly and without other motives,explain the risks and the benefits to the parents and the children involved.Word by word,without omitting even the least of the commas.These doctors should first weigh among themselves the success rate of the procedures involved before advising the parents and the children.The Benefits should outweigh the risks nine to one.
The parents should always act to protect the well being of their young and helpless children and they should not act in a desperate manner in order to save one of their children.
Every system for instance the Japanese child donor program is open for abuse by people who are not willing to follow the set standards and guidelines.The government should step in and crack down on those doctors,hospitals and parents who are not willing to follow those standards and are taking advantage of these children.Unless otherwise really necessary,child donations should be reserved to only close family members and under no way for monetary benefits,otherwise parents will force their children to donate their organs for money.
Japan's lift for the ban will be a big relief since there is still a huge shortage of organs especially here in the U.S.However,this issue should be approached with great caution as to not abuse the right to life for the so called brain dead children.Although these children are brain,technically they are still ALIVE!
Let us not be driven by selfishness and lust that we might forget that all form of of life however small,is sacred.Should Japan decide to lift the ban,strict regulations and penalties should be put in place to protect the most vulnerable of all,the child organ donors.
I don't think there is anything wrong with children being organ donors as long as the child is dead and the parents want to donate their organs. Plus reading the artical and it was saying how children need children size organs which makes sense to me. I do think Japan should lift the band and allow parents to donate organs from their child who have passed away not just brain dead but not on any machines or anything, but dead and thats what the parents want to do.
I think that Transplants should be allowed but kept too limits I think that if the donor is a child and will compromise the child's quality of life it should not happen. If the transplant will help it should be considered. The donations should be limited to those who will not survive and with consent from parents. If the child is healthy I don't think should be done. I think Japan could find a happy median to make is to that they protect the children and also provide for the children that are in need of such operations.
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