Blog 14_Organ Donations

While eating dinner and flipping through the channels, I came across Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper. This movie is about 13-year-old Anna, who sues her parents for medical freedom, because they constantly make her donate body parts to her sister who is diagnosed with leukaemia. They want her to donate her kidney next but Anna hires a lawyer to defend her. Anna's mother is infuriated because she cannot believe Anna would let her sister die. However, isn’t Anna entitled to the right to make decisions for her own body?

Like every other human being, Anna has the right to decide for her own body, especially when it comes to donating kidneys. That is part of her basic human rights. Furthermore, there is the concept of “No Duty to Rescue” in tort law. It states that the American jurisprudence imposes no duty or obligation on an individual to rescue another in the absence of having created the peril.1 Basically, family members or friends are not obliged to donate organs to “rescue” another unless they wish to. Therefore, parents cannot compel their children into donating blood, skin, or anything else if the children do not wish to.

Taking parts of one’s body always has its drawbacks, perhaps weakening one’s immune system or disabling one from playing sports. According to the National Marrow Donor Program, common side effects include fatigue, faintness, headaches, sore­ness, inability to properly walk, difficulty climbing stairs, sore throat, pain sitting, nausea, and vomiting.2 Kidney donation also has its side effects: vomiting, abdominal and pelvic pain, dizziness and lethargy. What if the donor permanently suffers from the side effects? Who will take care of him/her? Often times the donor would be overlooked as patients

To me, donating body parts is no different than cutting a piece of meat from a person every once a while. Even though sometimes there will be no harm done to the donor, it is nonetheless an intimidating process. Anna has already donated so much to Kate before she was even old enough to understand the process. Did she have an option? No, but that is another story. Now that she is old enough to understand the process, she should be given the right to decide for herself -- whether to have her body cut open and lose a part of her or not.

It may seem coldhearted and cruel to give second thoughts to donating organs to family members or friends but surely most people ponder about jumping in front of a car or into the railway. The scary part is the taking the risk. In Anna’s position, her older sister Kate who is sick with leukaemia has always relied on her for bodily substance and now she needs a kidney. What’s worse is, the stress of the operation may stress Anna so much she may not live and the operation may not even help Kate. Anna may suffer life-long consequences. If you were Anna, wouldn’t you be hesitant?

We were all born with our own body, with which we have the power to make decisions for. It is not right for others to dictate what one has to do with his/her body, but to encourage or persuade is acceptable. Most people claim that they will donate their organs to family or friends who need them when necessary, without hesitating. However, most people have not experienced organ donation and would never understand the fear and uncertainty of the donor.