Organ Donation Persuasive Speech

Words: 670
Pages: 3

The hope dies last. Thousands of families that love someone for whom the organ transplant is the only way to survive, live with hope on a miracle. One hundred thousand of Americans are on a waiting list to receive an organ transplant. Among them, there are thousands of children. Every day, twenty-two people from this list die, but the list does not become shorter because the new candidates take over the empty spots left by those who passed away before even having a chance to receive this very specific lifesaving care. To qualify for an organ transplant waiting list, a candidate must be younger than an organ transplant center defined age (usually between 65 and 75 years old), do not have any criminal history or history of drug abuse, and as pointed by some transplant centers, not to have specified mental health challenges. It may seem unbelievable that there is a criterion that denies organ transplant to American citizens based on the mental disability. Amanda Riviera is a little girl with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a genetic disorder which causes mental impairment, was initially denied a kidney transplant. The decision was overthrown and she received the organ after 50,000 of non-indifferent people brought her case to light through social media. Paul Corby, a young autistic man, was not as fortunate. Similarly to a 4-month-old Lili Parra who was removed …show more content…
The rights of the mentally disabled patient are protected by federal and state laws that include, but not limited to, The Americans with Disabilities Act, The Affordable Care Act, or The Rehabilitation Act. According to these acts, no one has a right to deny an organ transplant surgery based on the patient’s psychiatric history. The fundamental ethical Principle of Justice should be applied to all categories of people regardless of their cognitive abilities. The problem of organ transplant distribution exists due to organ short