[emmaree]

Hello all, I'm hoping to get your opinion on this topic,

I have been thinking of becoming an organ donor, preferably once I'm dead, actually most definitely once Ive departed .

However I'm of two minds. Today the need for organs has increased. The idea that I may be used to help save someone's life appeals to me. I've been told I'm a text book specimen, I have never smoked, have drunk little alcohol and rarely used medical drugs, so my organs are tip top shape.

There is such a demand for the heart, the lungs and kidneys . My skin (( I have killer skin )) can all be used, even my eyes though id toss them as they are (( not that great)). So the question is what part am I willing to go without when dead? Its not as if I need them. Should I just say, use all of me and save as many people as possible (( not sure)).

What holds me back, I have this thought. What if I need an operation for something minor go in to hospital with 2 kidneys and come out with one? Or what if whilst travelling to some of the places I venture into which are questionable. I find myself in an accident, and though not seriously damaged end up dead? The reason, some doctor has noted I'm a donor and decided to make a few bucks selling bits of me off to the highest bidder. Lets face it, how could I prove I wasn't dead on arrival..


How do you feel about organ donation?

Would you consider it ?and if so which parts would you consider donating? Are you an organ donor ? and what are you listed to donate? .....................have not slept much when I posted this so excuse if its a left field topic and makes no sense LOL

[IvanAleisterMesniaa]

emmaree, on 03 July 2010 - 08:05 AM, said:

Hello all, I'm hoping to get your opinion on this topic,

I have been thinking of becoming an organ donor, preferably once I'm dead, actually most definitely once Ive departed .

However I'm of two minds. Today the need for organs has increased. The idea that I may be used to help save someone's life appeals to me. I've been told I'm a text book specimen, I have never smoked, have drunk little alcohol and rarely used medical drugs, so my organs are tip top shape.

There is such a demand for the heart, the lungs and kidneys . My skin (( I have killer skin )) can all be used, even my eyes though id toss them as they are (( not that great)). So the question is what part am I willing to go without when dead? Its not as if I need them. Should I just say, use all of me and save as many people as possible (( not sure)).

What holds me back, I have this thought. What if I need an operation for something minor go in to hospital with 2 kidneys and come out with one? Or what if whilst travelling to some of the places I venture into which are questionable. I find myself in an accident, and though not seriously damaged end up dead? The reason, some doctor has noted I'm a donor and decided to make a few bucks selling bits of me off to the highest bidder. Lets face it, how could I prove I wasn't dead on arrival..


How do you feel about organ donation?

Would you consider it ?and if so which parts would you consider donating? Are you an organ donor ? and what are you listed to donate? .....................have not slept much when I posted this so excuse if its a left field topic and makes no sense LOL

I'm not being rude, or trying to make fun of you but that wouldn't happen. A doctor would not do that for a few quick bucks, there are some terrible people in the world but the probability of such a thing happening is just not so.
Do not worry!

I am an organ donor and I'm donating EVERYTHING. I do drink(very hard liquor) but my liver is special the doctors say, my liver still functions like no alcohol has ever touched it, even though I drink 3 or 4 times a month 151 and Bourbon and Absinthe. I have a really good liver. And even if the rest of me isn't that great I am donating everything.

I won't need it when I'm dead because I am dead in the ground rotting. If there is an afterlife which to me is not logically provable but IF there is one my body may be given away to random people but my soul would live on, I say donate everything you can.

[emmaree]

I know You are not being rude Franky, but you must understand what I voiced was my fears , not what would actually happen. As far as the alcohol and drugs , its what was said to me, not that if you drink you can't have good organs and could not contribute. I hope it didn't read like that as that was not my intention , I have really seriously considered donating everything but those things voiced were my concern rationally or as irrational as they might sound

Thanks franky for your honest input

[Mike Hooker]

When I renewed my driver's license last year, I checked the box on the form that indicated I'd like to be an organ donor.

The guy behind the counter said, "Why don't you fill out the donor form so you'll get an official donor card." So I did.

I received the card a couple of weeks later. I think all the card does is allow my organs to be donated without spousal/familial approval. Even with the card, my guess is that they would ask for permission first anyway.

Like emmaree, I've never been a smoker, and my last alcohol consumption was on the first Monday of November, 1986. So I guess my organs are in tip-top shape, albeit more than half a century old.

I don't care what organs are harvested. I guess the more the merrier. If I can help someone else extend their life, then why not do it?

What if the people who get my parts and have never had trouble sleeping develop insomnia? You think that's possible? Just kidding.

[Kik]

emmaree, on 03 July 2010 - 08:05 AM, said:

How do you feel about organ donation?

Would you consider it ?and if so which parts would you consider donating? Are you an organ donor ? and what are you listed to donate?

The UK govenment has been looking at an Opt-out organ donation system for a few years now so every few months there's a news story regarding the growing demand for donors. There was a story fairly recently about a woman with cystic fibrosis who underwent a double lung transplant, but because there were no matching healthy organs available, she was given the lungs of a 30-year smoker. She later died of pneumonia.

I am a registered organ donor and my family are aware of my wishes. I do have some reservations about organ donation including donating anything I could spare while I was still alive to anyone who wasn't a close family member or partner. Also, after I'm gone, I'd hate for my organs to go to people who were going to abuse them e.g. unreformed alcoholics, smokers etc. Or, as leftfield as this will sound, to a murderer or other serious criminal.

My biggest fear, especially in light of there being such a limited amount of organs, would be whether I'd receive different hospital treatment to someone who wasn't a donor. For example, if I was in a coma and was found to match someone on the transplant list, would my Doctor make as much effort to revive and heal me or would they see me as a meat sack to harvest from? Would they pressure my family to pull the plug to cross a name of their list? Coming back to the woman given smoker's lungs, apparently the surgeons allowed the transplant to go ahead because they deemed the lungs "good enough". The family however said they would never have gone through with the procedure if they'd known where the lungs came from.

I personally would want a Doctor to sweat blood before letting me go, but I can't help pondering over whether my donor card paints a target on me.

[emmaree]

Hi kik as mad I sound you have added voice to my fears. I'm still undecided, but am leaning towards donating as you said the amount of organs, there are fewer healthy as there are good ones.

thanks for the imput guys

[Kik]

emmaree, on 08 July 2010 - 07:10 AM, said:

Hi kik as mad I sound you have added voice to my fears. I'm still undecided, but am leaning towards donating as you said the amount of organs, there are fewer healthy as there are good ones.

thanks for the imput guys

No worries.

I've been on the donor register since I was 18 and truth is, I've no intention of coming off it. To me, it just feels like the right thing to do.

The vast majority of my fears are really about powerlessness and vulnerability and not about the issue of being a donor at all. In my heart I know my only choice is to trust that my family will do the right thing by me no matter what. This would be the same whether I was a card carrier or not.

[emmaree]

Kik, on 08 July 2010 - 12:47 PM, said:

No worries.

I've been on the donor register since I was 18 and truth is, I've no intention of coming off it. To me, it just feels like the right thing to do.

The vast majority of my fears are really about powerlessness and vulnerability and not about the issue of being a donor at all. In my heart I know my only choice is to trust that my family will do the right thing by me no matter what. This would be the same whether I was a card carrier or not.

very true

[Martin]

This is a really interesting discussion and I only regret being a little late to the party on this one.

When I lived in the UK, I was a registered organ donor. I don't know if the law has changed there, but I remember that even though I was a registered organ donor, I needed to inform my next of kin of my wishes as apparently they could still refuse to allow my organs to be used after my death (even though I was a registered donor).

emmeree - I don't think you need to worry about organ theft; especially in the West. If anything, I would say they'd be more likely to take your organs if you weren't a donor - at least when your registered they know they're getting them sooner or later!

When I moved to the USA and got my driving license here I ticked the organ donation box so now I have a pretty red heart on my license that confirms I'm an organ donor. It's kind of creepy that it's so prominently displayed on there (like they expect that's how I am going to die) - but I'm kind of proud that it's on there at the same time.

When they wrote to me to confirm my wishes, there was a form where I could limit what could and couldn't be taken. I allowed them to take everything, but I said I didn't want my body donated to medical research - donating organs is one thing, but having students picking through my body is quite another!

[emmaree]

Thank you so much for your input. My licence is coming up so I'm very keen to change my details and become a donor. I agree with you Martin giving my organs to be used buy a person is one thing ,being used as research by medical students is another

[Caers]

I've been registered as an organ donor for...well, about half my life now. Which isn't that long, admittedly. Both in the States and in the UK. I can't give blood, so I guess this is my way of making up for that. As for whether or not some doctor would, well, let me die, just for my organs... *shrug* If I'm dead, I won't really care, will I. It doesn't bother whilst I'm alive either. Although I think the chances of that ever happening are so slim, and it's ridiculous shows on telly that put that fear into people. So don't let the media influence you. You'd be doing someone(s) a huge favour one day by ticking that box.

[yamerias]

Sadly, I have nothing good enough to donate....but wanted to donate everything.

[emmaree]

Bet that not true yam, bet you have a great deal to donate.

[yamerias]

apparently my body isn't even good enough for donation to science...just the way it goes really.

[yourfavoritecyn]

When I renewed my license the other day, I honestly made a split second decision to become an organ donor. The deal is, they can't just take your body parts without consent from a living relative, whether you're a noted donor or not. This is something you'll have to discuss with your family and make sure you have written & notarized exactly how you want your body treated.
Also, a hospital can't legally "pull the plug" until they've done everything medically possible to save your life; whether at their facility or another.

I hope everything I said made sense haha.

[AuraTodd]

I have a doner card so when I die (people don't die, they go to a higher realm which is on a faster level then the Earth plain) I can give my parts to the still living.