Are you an Organ Donor?

[notoppings]

Just wondering if you checked that little box on your license? If not why? then answer me this. If you were in an accident, since you are not a donor, would you expect to receive donor organs? If yes how would you justify this?

Should people that sign up to donate organs get first dibs on available organs?
Or should they go first come first served? Or to the highest bidder?

[Monte314]

I'm not an organ donor, but I have no criticism of those who are, and see nothing morally or ethically wrong with organ donation.

It is against the law in the United States to sell organs for use in transplants.

[searcher]

I am an organ donor.
I think organs donation priority should go to a person who has
A - drastic need of the organ (what ever it may be)
B - at least a decent chance of surviving the operation and the next five years

But it's rather hard to judge. After all - how are you to know who is going to survive and who is not?

Possibly it should be "best match of most need gets organ", despite how long they have been waiting.

[Mozzes]

I'm not because you know that once Big Medical knows you're an organ donor they won't really try to save your life during a medical emergency not with a cornucopia of fleshy goodness waiting to be plucked like a flower from your worthless corpse. I've said too much...the men in white are coming...





Actually I am an organ donor mainly because what the hell am I going to do with my organs once I'm dead? I have met people who were that paranoid about organ donations though.

[Antisocialite]

Yes. Bone marrow.

[Synamon]

I'm not an organ donor, but I have no criticism of those who are, and see nothing morally or ethically wrong with organ donation.



Criticism? Organ donation is the gift of life in many cases and certainly the gift of quality of life in others. If it is not morally or ethically wrong then why do you chose not to be a donor? Are there religious reasons having nothing to do with morals or ethics?

Organ transplantation is one of the miracles of modern medicine but without organ donation it helps only a fraction of those who need it. I have my desire to donate my organs and tissues included in my Living Will and my husband and parents know about it, they have it in theirs too. Medical decisions about who receives the organs and tissues vary by country and my knowledge about the criteria is sketchy at best, so I'll skip that question.

[Monte314]

No, as I said I have no objections to organ donation in principle. I agree that organ donors contribute to saving lives with their selfless gift.

However, I do have two reasons for my carefully considered decision not to become an organ donor, neither of which I will share here.

[Stopharian]

Im not an organ donor because my body is to be cremated after I die and shot out of a canon. My heart is to be placed in an iron bound oak box which will be fought over by my relatives.

As for organs the best thing to do is go to have them installed in India. You can buy a dead Chinese prisoner or pay to have one executed for you.

[JonD]

Yep! My best friend's grandfather died because his kidneys failed and he couldn't get one. I also have been meaning to give blood since there's an O-neg shortage in my city...

[notoppings]

I am an organ donor, I tend to think along the lines of that *John Prine* song, "Please don't bury me" Just cut me up and pass me all around. Anything that you can use, your welcome to. I don't see the need for the meat after I'm dead, but if it can help someone out, that would be nice.

I think that anyone who doesn't want to donate should be at the bottom of the list, I don't care if people think thats heartless but if you want to reap the benefits of modern medicine then you should be willing to participate in it's support.

I also agree with Asimov and his view on capital punishment, If the state is going to execute a person, they should also pay for their crime with their body, why let all those organs go to waste,.

[aparkedcar]

Yep, I'm a donor. Cheaper license, and the chance to save some lives. What's not to like?

On another note, the solution to kidney shortages is to legalize the sale of kidneys. Not that I would sell one of mine :irked: (but I'm sure some people would)

[kag]

On any other board I wouldn't admit it to avoid interfering in information exchange but I know that INTJs just don't care :D , I'm recipient.

[Motor Jax]

ok, my g/f used to work at a tissue bank for a while... and she told me that for every 1 organ donor, they can save or improve up to 208 lives

208 lives!

they used everything... i walked by the places where they were grinding up human bones to make teeth fillings (i started thinking differently about my fillings afterwards)

there are hardly any scraps that are left over

1 organ donor = 208 people's lives either saved or improved!!


yes, i am an organ donor

[notoppings]

ok, my g/f used to work at a tissue bank for a while... and she told me that for every 1 organ donor, they can save or improve up to 208 lives

208 lives!

they used everything... i walked by the places where they were grinding up human bones to make teeth fillings (i started thinking differently about my fillings afterwards)

there are hardly any scraps that are left over

1 organ donor = 208 people's lives either saved or improved!!


yes, i am an organ donor

That is an amazing statistic thanks for the info.

[Monte314]

Yes, this is amazing!

[Jakalwarrior]

ok, my g/f used to work at a tissue bank for a while... and she told me that for every 1 organ donor, they can save or improve up to 208 lives

208 lives!

they used everything... i walked by the places where they were grinding up human bones to make teeth fillings (i started thinking differently about my fillings afterwards)

there are hardly any scraps that are left over

1 organ donor = 208 people's lives either saved or improved!!


yes, i am an organ donor


Somehow that made me wish I wasn't lol.

Yes I am a donor. I didn't put any thought into it, they just asked me while they were taking my picture. I just said yes to go along with it and get the heck out of there.

[thod]

Can I donate my testicles? I like the idea of making lots of mini me's long after I am gone.

[ScurvyRose]

I had checked it, but it isn't on my licence. Figure it must have happened for a reason!

[eyebyte_AtWork]

I don;t ride motorcycles.


Though I should check that little box - you never know if you can save a life with parts you don't need anymore.

[Uytuun]

I'm not because I'm too lazy to get the permit from the town hall. For the longest time I thought we were donors by default over here. I think I'd prefer to donate my body to a medical faculty, 208 lives is ok, but we've got think of the future.

"revolutionary surgery developed with the help of Uytuun's corpse", I can see it already.

[Valour]

I was actually thinking about this topic today.

*I'm not a registered organ donor, mainly because an easy opportunity to sign up hasn't come around, and i'm not going to actively try and sign up, but I know that there has been talk here in Britain of having an "opt out" system (Everyone is automatically a donor unless they opt-out)


If this happend then I wouldn't opt-out.

*Also they'll have figured out how to grow organs in around 10-20 years time anyway.

[Motor Jax]

ha ha, like in South Park and growing Ms. Garrison's penis... that was hilarious... but i can see that happening too...

[Nox]

Yes, I am an organ donor. I’ve never understood people who were seriously opposed (not people who simply don’t care one way or the other) to donating their organs. A whole lot of good it’s going to do them and society when life saving organs rot away in their useless husk of a body. It’s not as if the dead need or use organs from the grave, so people might as well let the sick and dying profit from their deaths.

I’m totally for people who are registered as donors getting second dibs on available transplants after people eighteen and younger. Maybe the fear of not receiving an organ if they ever did need it would encourage more people to donate their organs and help in the current shortage.

[mind_wander]

I'm not an organ donor, but I have no criticism of those who are, and see nothing morally or ethically wrong with organ donation.

It is against the law in the United States to sell organs for use in transplants.

Other countries are selling organs, of course illegally I mean. I was watching about this in NGO: underground of organs. It was said that, if you are desperate enough the best place to go is head over into China to find those organs.

[Dave C C]

Yes, hopefully by the time I am dead they will be able to use 100% of me and my wife can save on funeral costs.

[Anderson]

I am donating everything in my body that is usable. I donate blood semi-regularly so why not the whole enchilada? To answer the original question of whether it is moral to receive an organ/tissue transplant if you are an able but not willing organ donor...hmm...it might be hypocritical, but only you would know that you are not an organ donor, so if you are unethical enough to be hypocritical about organ donation, then you might as well lie and say that you are!!lol

[MrEPenguin]

No

[Seppuku Savant]

Yes, hopefully by the time I am dead they will be able to use 100% of me and my wife can save on funeral costs.

I think along similar lines. I don't want to buried in the ground. I don't need a headstone and all that business. If other people can benefit from my body after death, than by all means use it.

Should there be a seniority system? That's interesting. It would be fair to give organs to others that are willing to give theirs in return. However, there are also children that can't decide to do that yet. They shouldn't be ignored if their life is at risk.

[Anderson]

I think along similar lines. I don't want to buried in the ground. I don't need a headstone and all that business. If other people can benefit from my body after death, than by all means use it.

Should there be a seniority system? That's interesting. It would be fair to give organs to others that are willing to give theirs in return. However, there are also children that can't decide to do that yet. They shouldn't be ignored if their life is at risk.

I know this sounds silly, but perhaps the fairest way to decide who should get an organ/tissue transplant is a lottery system. Of course that might exclude people who do not participate in the lottery system, though.

[kag]

I know this sounds silly, but perhaps the fairest way to decide who should get an organ/tissue transplant is a lottery system.

It's not that easy. How would that system work with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching system and urgens list?

[Tabemashoo]

Yep, I'm a donor. Not only do I have no need for the organs after the fact, by doing so parts of me can live on well after I'm long dead and gone, which is a really cool concept.

[Tulula]

Absolutely, then cremate what's left over!

[Anderson]

It's not that easy. How would that system work with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching system and urgens list?

Of course it (lottery system) would have to utilize a sophisticated algorithm that factors in various things like blood type, HLA, etc.

I didn't say that it would be the most efficient, just the fairest--fairness and efficiency are strange bedfellows, indeed. Just look how inefficient democracy is and efficient dictatorship is. I'm going off on a tangent, but you get the point.

[Motor Jax]

oh ok...

"we are informing you that you won the lottery and there is a heart availbale for your transplant with exact blood type. the donor is osama bin laden. he was an organ donor."

[Anderson]

oh ok...

"we are informing you that you won the lottery and there is a heart availbale for your transplant with exact blood type. the donor is osama bin laden. he was an organ donor."

Even villains are capable of understanding the value of organ donorship. Look at Hannibal Lecter--I'm sure he is in favor of re-utilizing someones organs when they die...

[Mechanical Messiah]

I kinda like the concept of being parted-out like an old car.

And it'll get ya' out of speeding tickets.

[Danisty]

I'm an organ donor. I had a friend who died in high school and she was an organ donor and her parents knew of at least 7 people saved by her organs.

[phantasma]

I'm an organ donor. I don't get why some people are paranoid about the condition of their body after they're dead. As for me, after I'm dead, I have no use for my body, so who cares if someone uses my organs for someone who will need them a lot more than I do?

[bladeserver]

I'm an organ donor but not a blood donor (blood not accepted because of being in the UK during mad cow).

I am biased because my daughter was on the organ transplant list. I can tell you that they were very rigorous in vetting her application and, at least in that program, they tried to allocate donor resources with as much logic as can be utilized in the process.
It is a very imperfect process but my bias, based on personal expereince, is to not waste valuable transplant resources on recipients who have destructive life patterns. I realize the problems that arise with such a subjective approach to selection.
I cannot understand the rationale behind peoples decision not to be donors but I do accept, of course, that it is a personal choice.

[sam988]

Just wondering if you checked that little box on your license? If not why? then answer me this. If you were in an accident, since you are not a donor, would you expect to receive donor organs? If yes how would you justify this?

Should people that sign up to donate organs get first dibs on available organs?
Or should they go first come first served? Or to the highest bidder?


I'm not an organ donor because i will be cryogenically frozen/preserved when i die.


I believe i deserve organs if i ever need them, for the simple reason that i will make a much better use of it than 90% of people who are careless with their health and don't care if they die tomorrow or not.


Of course, if i couldn't get organs from the legal ways i'd get them in the black market anyway (or if that failed, i'd get it from some homeless bum) so it wouldn't be the end of the world to me if they decided that those who aren't organ donnors can't receive them.

[Shakyamuni]

Yes I've signed the little card and the papers. To me, what's the big deal?

[Wuchak]

Yes, I am a potential donor. And my wife, who is affected by an exceedingly rare neurodegenerative brain disease, wants to donate her remains to science for research.

No, as I said I have no objections to organ donation in principle. I agree that organ donors contribute to saving lives with their selfless gift.

However, I do have two reasons for my carefully considered decision not to become an organ donor, neither of which I will share here.

Nonetheless, I respect Monte's perspective and understand that this decision may be affected by our world views and value systems.