Shortage of Organ Donors

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7136005.stm

This recent article from BBC News states that there is a serious shortage in organ donors which is leading surgeons to use organs from drug-addicts on their patients. It also goes on to state that the government might instate a law forcing everyone to be an organ donor unless they specifically decline. I find myself disturbed by these ideas. First of all, it has been proven (according to this article, and common sense) that giving a sick person a liver or kidney from someone who died of a drug overdose can be unhealthy and can lead to greater risk of infection, and I believe that it should be considered unethical on the part of the doctor. The organs of someone who abused their body to the point of death in life should be considered "damaged goods" and should not be used to "improve" the health of the sick and dying.

Also, personally, I'm uncomfortable with the idea of everyone being written down as an organ donor. My boyfriend once expressed his concerns about this idea to me a while ago. He said that he would never be an organ donor because he believed that if he was in a near-fatal car accident, and the paramedics came and saw he was an organ donor, that they might let him die instead of trying to save his life just to harvest his valuable organs. At first I thought this idea was paranoid and ridiculous, but now I'm not so sure. If organs are becoming such an important and scarce commodity, and the government may be (practically) forcing us to give them up when we die, I don't know if I would feel safe getting into an accident and being put into the care of paramedics. I know it sounds somewhat crazy, kind of like something out of a sci-fi movie, but I think it could happen--not to everyone, but to some unlucky people, maybe.

Furthermore, I'm not so sure that not having enough organs to save the lives of already sick people is such an important cause. Since the onslaught of modern medicine, we've forgotten entirely about evolution. I know it sounds cruel, but some people just aren't meant to live. It's a hard pill to swallow but we are still evolving (this process doesn't just stop) and nature, as always, weeds out the weak. I know its tragic when a 7 year old child needs a heart transplant to live but think about it, even if she gets the new heart, her life will never be entirely normal or without health problems. And if someone is over 50 or 60, personally, I believe they should just accept that their time has come. It just seems to me that because of medicine, we like to think we're invincible; we forget how weak we really are. Its not that I don't believe in medicine; I believe that people should get help when they are sick, as much as doctors can give. I just believe in drawing a line and remembering that death is a part of life.