Organ donors?

I think deciding to donate or not is a very personal decision and whatever a person decides is right for them is fine. Your body is your body and no one else is entitled to lay claim to it or tell you what to do with it.

I do not have the donor box checked on my driver's license due to the possibility - however remote - of being prematurely declared dead for harvesting purposes. I have discussed it with my family, though, and they know they can donate whatever of me is useful once I am truly gone. That may not be much since I likely have widespread organ damage from a health condition, but if it is useful someone else can have it.

As for live donation, there is almost nothing I can donate. I have blood disorders and so am not permitted to donate blood or bone marrow. I also have severe kidney disease and barely have enough functioning kidney (not quite 30%) to keep myself alive and off dialysis. Liver, maybe, if it isn't too damaged - but only for close family or closest of friends. Not sure if I would be permitted to donate blood or bone marrow to my sister, who has the same combination of blood disorders as I do, but I would do it in a heartbeat if she needed it and it were allowed.

 

Agreed. Everyone has a right to refuse to donate, but it does bother me a bit if they do.

Some people do it for religious beliefs though, i think it's against Rastafarian belief, Jehovah's Witnesses... probably others

 

I might be worth nothing that in countries where you need to check a box to be an organ donor have like 15% donor rates, and counties where you check a box to not be an organ donor have like 85% donor rates.

 

Here you have to find, fill out, and mail in a form to get your name on the list. I would definitely be in favour of changing the system so that you have to fill out a form to NOT be an organ donor. This would give everyone the right to not give their organs, but would gather all the people who are either indifferent or uncomfortable with thinking about dying prematurely (it took years to get my twin on the list).

 

I'm not when I thought about it, but now I'm totally up for it....hopefully I don't get splattered or gibbed before I can be donated.

 

Jehovah Witnesses for sure. They don't even allow blood transfusions if someone is bleeding out.

And also, to keep it on topic: My grandmother was diagnosed with some sort of lymphoma. My family all got tested to see if we could be donors but none of us were a match, and then it turned out that it wasn't as severe as they initially thought and she didn't need a donor anyway. But I would totally do live donation if I was able.

 

the alkaline hydrolysis thing is awesome yay for chemistry
Stupid that it is only legal in 7 states in the U.S. though I mean what are they worried about? that it's safe?...the people are already dead lol.

 

I am not a donor. I don't feel comfortable with the idea of someone having my corpse-bits, any more than I am about someone's corpse-bits inside me or someone I love.

 

I am. I'm also a blood and bone marrow donor too - so basically, take what you please from me if it means saving your life!

 

Who ever gets my heart is damn lucky...just saying

 

I don't know if your numbers are correct, but the disparity between an 'op out' and an 'opt in' donor system is certainly very wide indeed.

Those who would need to take the decision are VERY aware that my wish is for 'anything useful should go to anyone who may need it' (if I'm dead, I won't!)

I think it is Spain which has been used as a comparison to Australia - the former having a system where your organs ARE donated unless you have specifically documented that you are NOT prepared to allow that, while Australia relies upon a final decision by next of kin - so even if YOUR wishes were to have been to donate, they can still be overridden. Personally I think 'opt out' Donor systems ought to be mandatory.

 

I've marked it on my driver's license, and expressly told my parents and friends that I would want EVERYTHING to be donated, including skin and corneas.

I have a blood disorder, so circumstances would have to be just right (my blood producing enough hemoglobin which it rarely does, etc.) in order to actually be allowed to donate, but it is what I want, without a question. I feel so incredibly guilty that I can't donate blood because of this disorder that the idea of not being able to do the same with organs would devastate me... thank god I'll be dead.

If living, I'm ok with donating whatever, provided that I was medically stable enough, except the surface stuff (corneas & skin mainly).

I am astounded by how many people on here are so selfish that they wouldn't donate. You're DEAD, you don't even know where your organs are!

 

i still find it mildly ludicrous that anyone can be called selfish for not wanting to share something as intensely private and personal as his or her own body. you may not agree with the position, but wanting to strip others of control over his or own physical body - and the disposition thereof - absolutely rubs me the wrong way. and i say this as someone who will almost certainly need a kidney transplant at some point in the future. before anyone jumps on me, note that i did NOT say *I* wouldn't donate. but it's not my business to make that decision for anyone else or make demands of someone else's body. all this rage directed at non-donors - "i disagree with you, therefore i am entitled to call you names, belittle you, and tell you you are a bad person" - i believe there's a name for that. we call it "bullying."

on a related note, simpler organs (i.e., tracheas) can be grown in the lab already. i believe they can also do this with bladders and similar organs (or perhaps it has only been done with animals at this point, i forget if they have done human ones). i've seen estimates at 10-15 years for the ability to lab-grow the more complex organs. so hopefully there will come a day when this discussion is moot and if you need a new organ, a perfectly matched one can be grown for you.

 

I'm not the healthiest guy in the world, but i checked everything on my drivers license, so if they can get anything worth while out of me then im all for it. I dont even mind my entire body being donated for medical training or whatever, but im not 100% sure how to go about doing so.

My mum had really bad cancer a couple years ago and had to undergo a massive surgical procedure, so if i can help train a surgeon who would go on to save peoples lives like that, then i cant think of a better way for my body to be used.

I think it was Jimmy Carr (British comedian) who said something along the lines of;
"Yes, i'm an organ donor. But i want everything to go to the same person, that way i'm essentially still alive through that person" (It was very funny the way he put it)

 

I didn't think it would be such a controversy, but hey, it was a good read. Had my morning coffee with it.

My answer is yes, I'm a donor. In Canada it works with signing the back of our health card, and letting our family know.
I know my wife has my back as far as letting them harvesting me before I'm completely dead; she will want proof and will question the doctor, or nothing is given. I have her back the same way.

My reasoning comes mainly from my belief that our body is just physical matter; it's borrowed and it's given back to the world after we die, transformed. But just that this flesh matter is made that way and could save lives instead of rotting in the ground or being burnt to ashes is a wonderful opportunity that should rightfully be taken.
I am hesitating as if there should be a law making sure that nobody can opt out of donating organs, but then, I think it would be disrespectful of people who have different beliefs.

I personally feel like after you're dead, your body doesn't belong to you anymore anyway.

I found the example with money from the bank/inheritance very good :eusa_clap

Another point is a simple equation:
Your life may very well depend on if somebody selflessly chose to have their organs donated after their death.
Somebody else's life may very well depend on if you selflessly chose to have your organs donated after your death.

To me, choosing to donate after your death pretty much equals...well, saving your own life (a life is worth a life, no?)

There's so many examples of people who deserve to have their lives saved; they also have people who care about them and love them, lots of them are kids, parents, grandparents...

If only everyone would start seeing that their bodies is not really theirs to own or to decide for, especially after they have no more use for it, I think the world would be a much better place indeed.

 

I'm not a registered donor, since as far as I know I'm too young. However, both myself and my brother have made it clear to Mum that we want all our organs and other parts donated should we die, and I expect that she will respect at least part of that as long as she remembers it! I know that I won't need my body after death, and since it would disintegrate anyway the idea it must be whole doesn't make much sense to me. However, that does not mean I can label anyone else selfish or wrong if they don't want to donate, though like several others I would prefer it to be an opt-out system here rather than an opt-in one.

I would also like to donate blood, but due to a chronic illness this isn't currently possible, and it may be that I'm denied the chance later since people don't actually know what causes CFS/ME. If it must go to researchers rather than a blood bank that's still good, though.

 

I was estimating, but with some research the gap is even more extreme then the numbers I suggested. Most opt out countries have a 98 or 99% donor rate.

 

I signed up to be an organ donor after death within days after turning 18. I keep the Donor Register card in my wallet at all times, so humanity will know what to do in case I suddenly drop dead.

They can have everything they want, I'm dead anyway so my organs won't be of any use to me anymore. Thinking about it, I believe my liver won't be of any use to anyone but that's a story for another time.

I'm massively in favor of a system where people are organ donors after death unless they explicitly state they don't want to, instead of a system where you have to register to be a donor. Luckily it won't be long until such system is implemented in the Netherlands.

I fucking love you.

 

I'm sorry but what? How are our bodies not our own? If we don't have the right to our own bodies and what happens to them dead or alive, what would be the point of anything if we had no free choice? who would be in charge of our bodies then?

I dont mean to be an ass as your post was very respectful but honestly that last statement....:eusa_doh:

 

I would be all in favour of making organ donation mandatory by law, unless one has a specific religious objection.

"Ick" and "they're mine to choose" just don't cut it for me. I'm going to go ahead and judge, and i'm comfortable in the judging... The position is just flat out wrong.