I just found out that I need an organ transplant and it got me thinking...how many adults out there are registered donors? And as a parent, would you donate your child's organs? I would...she wouldn't need them if something happened, GOD FORBID, but if something happened, how many other kids could have a better life?

Question:
Are you an organ donor???

Choices:
Yes, what will I do with them when I'm dead!
No, that's just sick and wrong!
I've thought about it, but never taken the time

Question:
If your child were taken from you, would you donate their organs to save other children?

Choices:
Yes, I would want to help others.
No, I couldn't do that to my child.
I don't know what I would do if my child died.

 

I believe a law should be passed that requires a person (over 18) be signed up for organ donation to receive organs. And that the person should be in good standing with the program, meaning that people can't just decide that they'll sign up once they need an organ.

I signed my first drivers license for organ donation and I've always maintained it.

Same here Ami - if what I'm not using any longer can help someone else, that's what I want to do. My children are beyond the age of ME making those choices for them, but they both feel the same way and are also donors.

I do have a donor card, I doubt that due to illness and stuff my organs are good for anyone else.

My will directly states that my body is not only up for organs donations, but also medical research that includes a lot of things from being the guy on the slab that the students get to pass out over while the teacher does the slicing and cutting to having bits and pieces examined and tested and God only knows what.

I have a lot of conflict over this one.

On the one hand, the good stories; you see this cute little kid, all smiles, who has passed the stage at which organ rejection is a problem, and you know that without the organ donation the child would be dead or totally disabled. So of course you say it's a "good thing".

But at another level, you see the dystopian aspects of the organ industry:

- third world kiddies sold in order to have their organs 'stripped' for the wealthy; and when they have served their purpose, no one cares that they die. There is no organ replacement for them. A worse horror is that donors who will be harvested completely are stripped of their organs without any anesthetic, because that means that the organs will be delivered to the recipient in better condition.
- the research fallout: for every successful procedure that emerges, there is a trail of 'test subjects', children who suffered needlessly while the parents begged the medical staff to try anything, however experimental, to save them; and out of this emerged, in time, a procedure it is ethical to offer to those not desperately afflicted. E.g. the little girl whose short and agonized life still haunts me even though she died over twenty years ago. She lasted twenty days after the operation to replace her heart with a baboon heart. The doctor said it gave him good practice. In those days surgery on babies that young was done without anesthetic; it was believed they could not survive it. She was fifteen days old when she was operated.
- the genetics fallout: or each person who survives to adulthood and can reproduce, the defects spread within the gene pool; and the frequency of the birth of children with the defect increases (where it is a heritable defect). Inevitably not all descendents can afford the heroic procedures required to save them, and must endure a sad and painful early death or live to adulthood severely disabled.
- the subtle message that children of some societies, or the elderly of some societies, are more worthy of extreme measures to sustain their lives; while in other societies, people starve and life is cheap.

I believe that especially in the case of babies who cannot understand that their pain is for a purpose, they should just mercifully be let go. Let the surgeons do their research on animals. That's bad enough.

I believe in donating skin for burn victims and eye corneas. That's all. The rest of it supports an industry that has a very dark side to it.

So a kindly-intended donation supports a dubious industry. Each new and successful procedure makes someone's career and infuses further research dollars into the industry. This process generates much speculative and trivial research, in the hope that something will stick to the wall.

Yes, I am a registered donor and I intend to donate my entire body to the Body Farm at the University of Tennessee upon my death, as well.
As for children, I don’t have any, but if faced with such a decision I would hope that I could make one that would benefit the most people. However, I am opposed to forcing live children to donate bone marrow or organs or whatever to their siblings, and I am opposed to the idea that siblings or family members who are a donor match are automatically expected to donate their organs when a relative is in need. It is a nice thing and probably the right thing to do in most cases, but I don’t like the implication that it is expected.
But my organs, my skin, my eyeballs, my whatever? After I’m dead, I ain’t gonna need ‘em. Take ‘em away!

The way this question was phrased leaves no option for those who are not donors for reasons of faith or culture. Some traditions hold that the body must be intact at burial and therefore organ donation is at odds with the religious/cultural training of a vast number of people. Such people should not be condemned as selfish for adhering to the tenets of their upbringing.
Others have ethical concerns, such as those Babs put forth, and they, too, should not be made to feel "wrong" for their decision in such a deeply personal issue.
I quite agree that if you're an adult and not a donor, you should not then expect to have any sort of priority on the transplant list.
I am not a registered donor, but my wishes are well known to my immediate family and detailed in my advance directive papers. My reason is that when my late stepdad was being treated in the ER following a car accident, the fact that he was a donor compromised the care he recieved... they were calling the harvest team and running blood tests before he was actually dead. I want my care providers focused on my needs until I don't have needs anymore.

Yes...two years ago I went through all the testing to donate a kidney to a co-workers daughter.

THANK YOU!!!yOU KNOW WHAT i'M TALKING ABOUT.

THANK YOU!!! After reading that you are leaving your body despite the problems, I will too, I had never really thought that they could learn more...Thanks Again-you gave me something to think about!

THANK YOU!!! My daughter is 15, she says if she died, take whatever is worth taking and burry the rest (just don't burn it first). She also said that if I need her pancreas, I can have part ofit, but we don't match. That would require a kidney as well, but she says that if she ever needs parts, to let her die...she doesn't want any part of another person's life haunting her.

Thanks again, and thank you for the values you've instilled in your kids!


edited to combine multiple posts

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MrsS,

A person can check the box to dontate on their license and their family can refuse to comply. The DMV designation is not legally binding.

20% of families refuse

quote:

Organ Donor Designation on Driver's License Frequently Ignored by Family

February 23, 2007 (Orlando) — Despite indicating a wish to be an organ donor on their driver's licenses, 20% of patients' families do not honor those wishes....


...A. Britton Christmas, MD, of the Trauma and Critical Care Unit, and colleagues reviewed 104 organ donation referrals made over a 3-month period to ascertain the appropriateness of the referral for donation, to determine the family's consent or refusal of donation, and to record the number of organs harvested from each donor.

The findings were compared with DMV records for or against organ donation.

Of the 104 referrals, 84 were identified on DMV records and 25 of those were designated as organ donors.
......

DMV organ donor designation has increased the number of organs available for transplantation, according to the researchers. However, DMV designation is not legally binding, Dr. Christmas reminded meeting attendees, and 20% of families in this review refused to honor the donor's wishes.

"Many family members are hesitant because they don't know the patient's wishes," Dr. Christmas commented. "This can be important to know [ahead of time] because it may affect end-of-life care. Discussion after the fact may not be helpful....


..."We routinely access DMV records on our [deceased] patients, and that is becoming the standard of care," Dr. Christmas told Medscape. "It is surprising to us, but not many individuals recognize what being an organ donor is," he added. "Family members must express their wishes to each other, so that donor status is known ahead of time."

(edited to meet copyright rules)
The full text of the article can be found at the link in the previous post)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MrsS,

Clare thanks for the info! Every little bit helps!

Thanx Clare,

If you put it in writing when you get your license, it should be honored-It was your choice while you were living, why should your family change it after you're gone?

Unfortunately, the family can always contest, even if it is put in writing. It is a shame that a persons' last wishes aren't always fulfilled, that people don't know their family members well enough to understand their wishes, or accept the wishes enough to honor them.
Even if a persons' wishes are clearly and legally spelled out, even in a will, a family member can challenge that and hold things up for long enough until the organs are no good. So sad.
That is why it is essential to have these conversations with your immediate family before the time comes when decisions need to be made. Make sure everything is in writing, and make sure your wishes are known and understood and will be honored by your family.