An Emergency Room On A Calm Day - 1424 Words

Imagine an emergency room on a calm day; the air fluttering with quiet conversations between families and doctors, the constant clacking of the receptionist’s fake nails on the keyboard, and the occasional cry of a baby. Suddenly, sirens start to wail and everything slows down as if time becomes like molasses on a cold winter day. The phrases â€Å"incoming trauma† and â€Å"GSW (gunshot wound) to the left-upper quadrant† resonate through the air. In a split second, the relaxed ambiance of the quiet emergency room has been interrupted by loud, raucous voices, machines, and clattering gurneys. A young woman, Karly Lance, who is noticeably injured from an involvement in some sort of accident is rushed into the nearest room and the curtains are drawn†¦show more content†¦Ultimately, she wanted one last chance to save someone’s life and change his world. Two situations could arise out of this predicament: Karly’s parents could deny organ donati on or they could allow Karly’s sacrifice save someone else’s life. Ultimately, her parents choose to abide by Karly’s wishes and through the process save five other lives. Ben Almassi writes that â€Å"[o]rgan failure reminds us that we are interdependent and embodied beings. It illustrates vividly two simple, powerful truths: that we must rely on each other, and we can rely on each other† (275). Death is inevitable and unpreventable, yet life can be prolonged through the process of organ donation and transplantation. In 1954, a kidney served as the first successful human organ transplantation. Successful liver, heart and pancreas transplants followed in the 1960s, and lung and intestinal organ transplants began in the 1980s. The first successful heart-lung transplant was performed in 1981, and in 1983, the drug known as Cyclosporine was introduced to treat organ rejection (â€Å"History† 1-2). Although these innovations effectively changed the medical world, they all dealt with dead donors. However, that all changed in 1989 when the first living donor procedure, a kidney transplant, was performed successfully. These first successful tran splantations and â€Å"[m]edical advances in the prevention