Organ Donations From Drug-Abusers, Debate For Transplant Overhaul

Currently there is a debate to overhaul the current donor system. Due to a serious shortage of organs for transplants will mean that surgeons will have no choice but to use parts from drug addicts.

So far over four-hundred organs have come from donors with a history of drug abuse between the years of 2002 and 2007. This can possibly affect the quality of the organ to the person getting the transplant along with a rise in the infection rates. The lack of organs not from drug abusers stem from fewer healthy people dying in car accidents. That is when organs can often be retrieved intact. As a result, there is a debate going on right now whether or not to overhaul the system of organ donation. Currently, the government is looking at a proposal that everybody should have their names put on the register for organ donations. Currently in Great Britain, over eight-thousand people need an organ donation. However, only three-thousand transplants are carried out each year. About one person dies each day as s/he waits for an organ. Ten hearts were taken from people with a history of heart disease or had suffered a heart attack according to UK Transplant. UK Transplant is in charge of all transplants taking place in Britain. Fourteen cases of organs were taken from addicts. One donor died of a drug overdose. Another case was a liver taken from a person that died of paracetamol overdose. Surgeons have agreed that the standards of organ donations have dropped within the last decade due to more organs being taken from those who are older and more sickly; instead of the younger and healthier ones.