Organ Donation

[Calin Leafshade]

I was fairly confident you'd be against legislation progz

How is it potentially unpleasant? You're dead.

The fact of the matter is that more than 90% of people are willing to give up their organs when they die but just forget to register. You don't need them, they are tissue and you dont need tissue when your dead... you dont need anything.

[Jim Reed]

I wouldn't donate any of my body parts, and I'm strongly against the opt-out system. I also wouldn't accept a transplant.

[Evil]

and presumably you dont agree with medical cadavers for experiments either. I don't really know how your world view would work on any large scale. How would doctors learn?

This is very interesting, because I'm actually in the process of removing myself from the US donor registry, in favor of donating my body to a medical university, completely "in tact". In the US medical universities can keep a cadaver for up to 4 years, and the donor can request that their body be only used for teaching medical students.

Over four years, can you imagine how many students will learn how to be better doctors by looking at your body? And imagine how many lives they'll save after they get their medical license. I mean, sure, my body my not give them any breakthroughs to save an individuals life, based purely on examining my corpse, but who cares? I don't believe in anything after death, so who am I do care what happens anyway?

Plus, after the 4 years, they return the body to the family, theoretically, with all of your organs. Let a few doctors look at your johnson, then they give you back, and put you in the ground. Sounds pretty fine to me.  8)

[Ryan Timothy B]

For example, I don't give blood.

Unfortunately I can't donate blood because the first time I did it, my blood test came back with a false positive for, I believe Hepatitis C. They tell you this by mailing you a letter. It said the wide spectrum testing was the one that gave the false positive, but the actual test for H.C. came back clean. Just because of that 'marker' that set off the first test, I'm not allowed to donate.

It's funny cause they said even a simple cold or something like that could cause this. I was pretty frustrated at the time, mostly because I donated blood just to have it thrown out, and second for the knowing I can't donate blood no matter how much I may want to.


As for donating organs, it's an uncomfortable thought. I've had a donation card, those stupid paper ones Calin was talking about, had it for several years. Eventually it got removed from my wallet from being tattered and ruined, and I haven't had one since. Even though I'm totally willing to donate my organs, I'm still a little uneasy while thinking about it. Even though I have no religious beliefs. It's odd, I know. Still willing to do it though.

I disagree with the opt out idea, due to people and their strong religion. But one thing I totally believe they should be doing is having organ donation on the paperwork they give you when you get your license. Then you don't have to carry around a flimsy piece of paper, and everyone who gets their license (or renews it) is given the choice to have it added to their drivers license.

[Obi]

I can't donate blood either! I like mentioning this a lot and do so at any chance possible. This greatly annoys friends and close ones, but it makes me feel happy to have something to complain about. I had a blood transfusion and let me tell you, having someone else's blood flow through your veigns is a terrific feeling. Don't let those neighsaysers tell you otherwise (such as the jehovahs).

THANKS MEDICAL SCIENCE! 

[Jim Reed]

Skimming through some topics on organ donation and what the church says about it (yes, I'm pretty religious, no, I don't want to start another religion thread) I can sumarise it like this:

The pope says that organ donation is good if there is no harm to the donor's life (if you are alive and donating eg. donating a lung, a kidney etc.), and you can, as a donor, survive the donation (eg. you have two lungs, kidneys etc.).

There is a dispute about donating vital organs, one can't live without (eg. heart).
According to the pope, you can donate vital organs if you are dead. The problem is that the church and the medical science have different meanings for the label "dead"

As I understand, medical science considers a man/woman dead if he is brain-dead (whatever that means), while the church considers death when the soul leaves the body. As you all know, no one yet has been able to measure that exact moment.

Anyway, for heart transplantation, the heart has about 3-4 minutes (more or less) to be transplanted before it's not useable anymore (that is, it probably won't start again). The question arises in my mind, could you be brought back to life if those minutes were spent on reviving you, than transplanting your heart?

Well, I'll still stick to my stated position, although I didn't know it was contrary to the churches view, until I give it much more thought. Surely, this isn't something one should rush into.

[SSH]

As Calin points out, you still would have a choice. The only difference is that you have to fill in a form NOT to give your organs rather than fill in a form TO give your organs. The default changes. And organs always go in order of priority to the people most liekly to be able to get the most use out of them, ie. not alkies or junkies.

Also, in the UK most funerals are closed casket so I can't why people get bothered so much.

And Indie, can I clarify your posittion: you wouldn't accept an organ EVER or you wouldn't accept and organ that had been taken against the wishes of the deceased?

Personally, I think people who are squeamish about this have taphophobia.

[ddq]

People can have my body parts after I've gone, but I'd rather opt in to the program than out. I don't really think an opt-out system would go over very well, it'd probably be better to raise awareness instead.

[Ryan Timothy B]

Taphophobia: the fear of being buried alive.

I wouldn't really say it's a fear of being buried alive, but mostly just the idea of some organ that has been inside of me my whole life is now going to be living in another persons body.
And yeah, I can't say that I haven't thought about the idea of after being dead you're still connected to your body (which I guess falls under taphophobia ).
It's definitely not something I believe but I do think about it.  Wouldn't let that stop me from willing donate my organs though.

[Mr Flibble]

I'm against organ donation.

Those dirty organs never do anything for us, why should we donate anything to them? They take our jobs and claim all our benefits.

[Matti]

I wouldn't really say it's a fear of being buried alive, but mostly just the idea of some organ that has been inside of me my whole life is now going to be living in another persons body.

They would anyway, just not in the traditional way

No matter disappears. If your body rots in the ground, trees, bacterias and insects will all get a piece of you and in the end every former part of you will be part of the global circulation and people will have parts of you in them, may they be proteins, carbon, oxygen or anything else inside you.

Don't want to start a religious debate either, Jim, but I think that's the most beautiful system one could ever imagine and that's why I find the idea of a life after death rather weird. You are being created from matter of all kind and when you're dead you're falling apart and go back to where you're coming from: everywhere.

Just a thought.

[ThreeOhFour]

I think organ donation is a pretty darn rad thing indeed. I say "Good show" to people who are willing to give away their squishy pumpy filtery bits once they're all dead and that. It's like recycling. Only thing is if I ever got a organ donored to me I'd probably feel inclined to walk around saying "Thanks for filtering this drink I just drank for me, Simon's kidney. You're a real star! Go team Ben and Simon's kidney!".

No matter disappears. If your body rots in the ground, trees, bacterias and insects will all get a piece of you and in the end every former part of you will be part of the global circulation and people will have parts of you in them, may they be proteins, carbon, oxygen or anything else inside you.

This means that some of the cells on my arm were probably, at one point, cells from someone's boob once.

phwoaaar!  

From now on, please refer to me as "Mister Boob-arm" 

[Tuomas]

Most probably from some poor Asian guy's dick rather than a boob. Mr. Edward Penishands.

[ThreeOhFour]

There are roughly twice as many boobs as there are penises in the world.

That makes it more likely to be a boob 

But yes, I also have penis arms. HOORAY!  8)

[Matti]

It's like recycling.

Ha, that's what I was talking about. We're all getting recycled anyway cause nature doesn't waste anything. It's just that donating organs is a better way of recycling than just rotting in the ground.

Problem is: If I don't stop smoking and drinking so much at some point in my life, probably nobody would want any organs of mine anyway.

This means that some of the cells on my arm were probably, at one point, cells from someone's boob once.

phwoaaar!  

From now on, please refer to me as "Mister Boob-arm" 

Hehe. I don't think you can say that, but hell: everything cycles around, may it be the excreta of a beetle being absorbed by corn that ends in your meal.

[Haddas]

I don't mind my organs being used by anyone else after I die. I'm hoping for a "Liquid Snake" type scenario. They can chuck my mutilated corpse in the oven afterwards for all I care as I want my ashes to be spread into the ventilation system of a full stadium. We don't have open casket funerals over here, and I'm glad we don't. Just knowing they're in the coffin (or ARE they?) is enough for me.

[Khris]

No matter disappears. If your body rots in the ground, trees, bacterias and insects will all get a piece of you and in the end every former part of you will be part of the global circulation and people will have parts of you in them, may they be proteins, carbon, oxygen or anything else inside you.

To go a step further, we are actually all made of stardust, which is a quite beautiful picture I think.

I have also decided to give my body to a medical university; it's going to be quite a show for all the students used to seeing all that only in 2D, without the odors

From my purely materialistic point of view, the only objection to organ donation I can think of is the risk of not being tried to revive as extensively as other people because one of the paramedics finding my donor card
Although that's more an objection to the idea of carrying it around with me all the time.

Come to think of what happens after a near fatal accident; on a rather selfish level it's very important to have in writing that one doesn't want to be kept alive for years in a vegetative state. While I'm certainly not convinced that those people are perfectly fine minds trapped in a helpless body, I'd rather pass on the firsthand experience.

[RickJ]

They'll come for your liver ...

[Calin Leafshade]

I knew that python sketch would come up eventually.

[Misj']

I was reading an article on the BBC about organ donation and I realised that I was NOT on the register despite 100% supporting organ donation (I actually think it should mandatory or 'opt out')

I am not an organ donor. Not because I'm against organ donors, but I've decided that as long as I can't make a global selection (based not on criteria like race, religious views, but rather on the way the person treated his or her own body) about the person who would get my junk, than I'm not gonna give it.

Consequently, I consider people who became organ donors (without any such selection criteria) and than start to propagate that those who are not organ donors are not worthy as organ recipients (so they suddenly claim they want a selection criteria) to be completely wrong. They want to deny me the organ because I don't fit their criteria for a proper recipient and the only reason why I don't fit their criteria is because I can't set any criteria for what I consider a proper recipient in the first place.

If you want to be an organ donor, good for you. But if you feel that you should have the right to make demands about the organ recipient (being eg. a donor himself) then you should be on my side and decide that within the current system you can't be an organ donor (upon death) at all.

Ps. I don't think organ donation should be forced unto people. If you're allowed to ruin/waste your body during life (smoking, drinking, drugs, professional sports, etc), then you should be allowed to 'waste' your body once I'm dead (bury it, let the worms have a great meal...burn it, the cat needs a clean litter-box). Otherwise society should also force you to live life 'healthy'. You can't have it both ways in my opinion.

EDIT: just for clarity, the 'you' in this post was directed in general and not at Calin (even though I quoted him at the beginning of the post).