Am I alone?

Question

a change in rules: we are now told that regardless of our beliefs they will simply TAKE our organs unless we opt out. is anyone else taking a moral stand here and tearing up their doner card and making the effort to opt out. perhaps if they offered to pay for funeral expenses but that would be wrong, wouldnt it? its ok to take organs but not to sell them? i hate everything about this country. except samantha janus.

Answer 1

I have allways carried the donor card, my kidneys are on their last legs, my livers shot, my hearts been broken countless times, and my eyesights failing so i think im safe from the organ pirates.

But i do find these new rules disturbing.

Answer 2

You will not need your organs after you die. Someone else can benefit from your generosity. You do have the option to opt out of donation if you want, you will not be forced into donation. It can be a harrowing time for a family if someone dies, and then to have the experience of a doctor asking if you consent to a loved one having organs removed. If everyone has a card to say either yes or no, then that will take away the added trauma of making this decision in a moment of grief. I for one welcome this move. I am sure that it will be monitored and regulated - then probably taxed by the government! (sarcasm)

P.s. Long live Samantha Janus

Answer 3

Hello,

(ANS) I was brought up within a medical family (both parents worked for many years in the NHS) and I worked for 6 years in a large teaching hospital. My work was based on the intensive care unit, so I got to see directly how organ transplantation works. I saw both the positive and the negative side of transplantation.

**Personally I still to this day have very mixed feelings about organ donation & transplantation process. This is from many angles, for example having to ask grieving relatives if their loved ones organs can be harvested (taken). **When a person has just been bereaved the very last thing they want is to have to face making a decision about having organs removed from the dead body.

**Nobody ever talks about the horror that can be involved when organ transplantation goes wrong or fails to work or when organs are rejected by the body. Frankly, that scenario is a nightmare, & is the barbaric side of transplantation. Patients frequently die and nobody mentions this!!!

**also bear in mind that NOT ALL transplantations are completely successful but its hard to argue against transplantation per say, especially if it was your mother, or brother etc who would die without the replacement organ.

**Even when organ transplantation is successful patients must take anti rejection drugs for the rest of their life. This is no small commitment and at no small financial cost either.

**NOTE: I will definitely be opting out of the system myself. Oh! & I forgot to say I'm an atheist too.

Ivan

Answer 4

Who's Samantha Janus?

I think that considering the shortage in transplantable organs, presumed consent is a good thing. Though I do agree with you that it does need strict monitoring to combat organ trafficking.

This could be done at the point of the registration of death - ie: the coroner would record whether there have been signs of internal organ interventions, and check whether the organs are in place. Procedures with the removal of organs would have to be double checked and overseen (as it should be anyway these days).

Presumed donor consent should go a long way to solve the transplantable organ shortage - if you know someone who's on a organ waiting list, you'd know how dire a situation it is.

Answer 5

It depends on which country you are referring to. You know I always find this a strange debate about organ donation. My mum was a kidney patient for over 15 years and she did eventually take her name off the transplant list. This was because of all the dissappointments and near misses. When she died they did ask if they could harvest some of the organs that would help others and we said yes for two reasons. firstly it brought a positive light on something that was so painful and secondly it brought comfort to know that she was never that far away.

Answer 6

I signed the donor section of my license willingly. My mother received a kidney transplant a few years ago, so I understand the benefit that can come from selfless sacrifice by others. My question is why does it matter. Do you really have need of your organs once you are dead? and if they can help another to continue to live, isn't that a worthy sacrifice to make? However, I will agree with you that it should be a personal choice, not a directive from the state.

Answer 7

they should just leave it as is people who want to donate have already got their donor card, why change it all. I support organ donating but i think it's a choice and so should be left up to people getting a donor card as apposed to not knowing they need to get a opt out card seems like a tricky way of getting more organs!!!

Answer 8

The government is CONSIDERING it, they haven't said they will go ahead yet. Personally I don't see the problem. If you care enought to carry a doner card why would you rip it just because you don't like the (possible) new system? If they bring the system in then just opt out, don't throw a hissy fit.

Answer 9

No way, is that true?? What is the point of having a donor card then if they will just take them anyway?? They cant do that surely?? Saying that though I dont know why I am suprised, we dont get to make many decisions for ourselves anymore do we!!

Answer 10

If I'm dead it will make no difference what happens to my organs. But it will make all the difference in the world to the person who needed them. Let them do what they need to do to save lives.