While more and more people want to immigrate, the borders of many states are getting tighter and tighter. Here is an example of one way in which making it tougher for immigrants to enter a country has had a negative side effect. But will easing the way for organ donors open the doors to abuse? Should financial aid be made available in these cases? How can a state best limit the negative impact of illegal immigration without being uncharitable? Since I have had personal experience of the time and red tape it takes to immigrate to Slovakia, I am also wondering how tight you think this country’s borders should be? Should there be a difference in policy between a state founded by immigrants (like the U.S., Australia or Canada) and more historic, national states like those in Europe?
Difficulties in obtaining visas for donors seem to me just ridiculous. I cannot understand how it is possible that the states officials forgot about the medical issues when they were tightening the borders. On the other hand, I don’t understand why it is sometimes so difficult to get visas, because my personal experience is that I got it within two days since I applied for it. And it was also the tourist visa type. Perhaps it is more difficult in other countries to obtain the visa.
ReplyDeleteIt really disappointed me when I read that even when doctors call embassies and consulates, it does not speed up the process. It is cynical and cruel from these people to consciously let people die instead of trying to help. As was pointed out in the article, the solution might be introducing a new type of visa category, a medical category. This would certainly speed up the process of transplantation and the long waiting lists could be cleared to at least its half. In long run, some states it would also cost less, for example, in the State of Illinois it is cheaper for government to do the kidney transplant than to pay for two-year dialysis. But is there somebody in the State Department, who would be caring enough to put across this change in visa system? It appears to me that there is no such person. However, if this change was reached, then, in my opinion, the government should also provide more financial aid. I understand that recently we have got into a financial crisis, but it is non-ethical to cut back on medical care. Therefore, I am certain that it could cut back more in other areas in order to keep money for cases like these. The government should take proper care of its citizens, that is its main function, and if it doesn’t do it, it is not worth its stand.
This article only proved how intolerant and uncompassionate some people can be, especially those in government and several embassies. In fact I don’t see why they deny so many visa approvals in general. In my opinion, every denial or restriction leads to a rebellion by which one would reach what he wanted after all. This also includes immigrants, who, however, often don’t even attempt to get a visa for the more than a certain denial. Reasons for the denial are rather absurd, I would say. Though they often include poverty, social status and even the country they originate from. And now, how somebody can say that States are the most tolerant country? Imagine how potential and ambitious person coming for example from Mexico is not given even an opportunity to strike just because of prejudices towards social stereotype of Mexicans.
ReplyDeleteThis wouldn’t be so concerning to me if declining visas didn’t imply to potential donors who are actually willing to donate an organ and satisfy all conditions for transplanting. I cannot even imagine how powerless and heartsick these families must feel when there is a possibility of a help but at the same time there is none. 110,000 is a huge number of people who are waiting for a transplant and considering that more than 60,000 of those are multiracial it would be definitely easier for everybody on the waiting list. In other words, people who have potential donors would increase possibility of the others to get a transplant.Moreover, I would only see benefit in approving of visas, for this purpose especially, as it saves money which would be used in dialysis anyways. But I guess that there can’t be done much unless some inhuman and crucial people realize how just one yes, instead of no, would help not one but several people around.
It is strange how many difficulties a donor of an organ has to overcome to actually help a person that needs it. One would think that the hardest part is to find a compatible donor that is willing to help, but the article shows that it gets a lot more difficult if the person is not a US citizen. I think that this is really ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteI cannot understand why it takes so much time to get a visa. Even if the donors request their application to be expedited and even if the doctors contact the officials it still takes a lot of time and in many cases the application is refused. The ignorance of the officials is shocking me. However, I think that these problems can be easily solved. I think that the best solution would be to add a new visa category. It could be something like medical visa or so. It can be very similar to ordinary tourist visa, but it will be a lot faster and easier to obtain them. I personally think that this problem is fault of the people that created the laws and restrictions about the border security. Probably someone just didn’t think of this scenario. I hope that these problems will be quickly solved as the solution is relatively simple and straightforward.
Interesting, but at the same time very alarming article. If I ever needed an organ for transplantation, the last thing I would want to care about is getting visas for my donor.
ReplyDeleteI understand that after 9/11 the U.S. is very cautious with immigrants and I respect that. On the other hand, the government shouldn’t be this stubborn and should at least try to be cooperative. The same thing goes to the embassies and consulates.
I think that the only reason why nobody in the government is dealing with this problem is because nobody in the government ever had an organ failure. Nobody cares about problems until they are personally involved in the problem. I don’t say that they should open the borders for immigrants or allow everybody who’s a potential donor to enter the country. I just think they should start dealing with this problem as soon as possible, as more and more people are dying just because of the red tape. The excuses of government that they are not able to provide financial aid are ridiculous, because what is there more than a human life? Aren’t the government and state institutions supposed to help people? Cutting the budget for health aid simply isn’t the best way to save money.
Aliens who are also potential donors from foreign countries invading the country after the donation, is an important problem and as soon as they figure out how to prevent from aliens illegally staying in the country after the operation, the whole transplantation process should speed up. Special hospitals for immigrants with monitoring system and other safety regulations, which don’t allow foreigners to escape seems to be a good idea, but it does not fit with democracy and might even seem like if the are being put in jail. It would also cost plenty of money to ensure special hospitals (or parts of hospitals) in so many cities all over America.
I think the first step that should be taken in order to find a solution to this problem is to get the people in the government to start discussing it and looking for a solution. We’ve seen before that when the U.S. government wants (or is desperately needing) to find a solution to a problem, they are capable of finding it very quickly.
This article proves how too much mistrust against other countries can hurt the people in need of help. It's sad that even though you may have a suitable donor in your family, if they are not a citizen of the US then you might not be able to get a transplant from them.
ReplyDeleteThis is in my opinion very unfortunate. A lot of people have to suffer a long time before they get a transplant, and if the transplantation visas were less strict than they are now, a many more people could have organs from their families and quite possibly many lives would be saved.
The government should be motivated to change the strictness of these policies not only for the reason that lives will be saved. In addition to that, money that would have originally gone on treatment of patients waiting for a donor could be spent elsewhere. As the article states, in 2009 $9.2 billion were used on dialysis patients. This is a large sum of money and some of it could be saved and used for further treatment of other sick people.
It is understandable that the US is careful about immigrants and tourists from other countries but one would think that the complicated security system at airports would be enough. A person shouldn't have to go through so much to help their family in need.