Scientists predict that a few years from now, self-driving cars will dominate roads and highways all over the world. This means that driving will become much safer because no person will be injured in the occurrence of accidents. However, when road-related casualties decrease, this can take an impact in the number of organ donors.
Last year, people who died in road accident and became organ donors reached 13.6 percent. This perverse effect tends to decrease the number of organ donors as a ‘side-effect’ of propagating autonomous cars. Furthermore, they called for suggestions on how to get more people involved in becoming organ donors.
As of press time,an estimated 120,000 people are waiting for organ donors every day, and the numbers are increasing. Researchers are now finding ways on how to encourage organ donations to save the lives of those in need of it. Eventually, they hope that they will be able to grow their own organs by tapping 3-D printing and other bioengineering technologies so that they can stop relying on donors, NBC News reports.
According to Slate, the first successful kidney transplant occurred in 1954. Since then, critical shortages have been recorded in organ transplant centers around the country. Every year, about 6,500 Americans die while waiting for an organ transplant. Another 4,000 are taken off from the waiting list because they have become too sick and no longer capable for a transplant.
Since 1999, the waiting list for patients needing organ transplant has recorded an upsurge from 65,313 to more than 123,000. Among all these patients, those with liver and kidney disease are more likely to die compared to those with prostate or breast cancer. Furthermore, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that the rampancy of chronic illnesses will rise with the lack of organ donors. In the U.S. alone, it has been projected that there will be a 20 percent increase in organ transplants in the next five years.
