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The First Human Organ Transplant

Good Essays

In December of 1954, the first human organ transplant was performed in the United States between identical twin brothers. In the past sixty years, organ transplantation has become the gold standard in the treatment of organ failure from a number of underlying causes with dramatic improvements to recipients’ health and quality of life (Kaserman, 2007). From the first kidney transplant in 1954 to the late 1980’s, one of the biggest advancements was the use of cadaver organs. Organ rejection was the primary concern from the transplant team who knew that the use of cadaver organs posed higher risks of failure.
The successful use of cadaver organs was made possible by the development of immunosuppressive drugs like cyclosporine. The practice of utilizing immunosuppressive drugs has led to a decrease of transplant failure-rejection of a new organ- by the recipient’s own immune system (Kaserman, 2007). As research continues to look for new ways to decrease organ rejection rates, the majority of recipients take immunosuppressive drugs and will need to do so indefinitely (Ehlers, 2002). Kaserman states that as the transplant industry grew, a need for guidelines became apparent and hence requested that Congress create a governing body (2007). In response, the United States government created the current system in 1984 which has been revised several times. The system is governed by the National Organ Transplant Act. NOTA is based off the ethical ideal of altruism: “To give freely

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