How many of you knew that if you become an organ donor your heart rate and blood pressure soars?

Question

when they start to cut out your organs?

Just as in a living person being attacked with a knife.

Don't believe me?

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4155/is_20000822/ai_n13871403

To yogini eggnogini: They don't usually give you anaesthetic.

To yogini eggnogini continued: how do you know they're not in pain? If they're not given paralyzing drugs to keep them from thrashing around, they certainly appear to be in pain, and appearances are all we have to go on for those who cannot speak for themselves.

To Yogini eggnogini: of course they give anaethetic to so-called "living donors." I'm talking about so-called "brain-dead" donors. And if you think "brain death" means the brain is no longer functioning, think again.

As I write this, I have on my desk a whole stack of articles from medical journals that prove otherwise. All "brain-dead patients regulate their body temperature, which is done by the hypothalamus. Before a diagnosis of brain death can be made, hypothermia can be ruled out, which ironically means that some brain activity is necessary before a diagnosis of brain death can be made!

Most "brain-dead" patients can regulate the electrolye balance, which means their pituitary glands are still secreting vasopressin.

Visual and auditory stimulation can evoke responses in the brainstems of "brain-dead" patients. And I've saved the best for last: many "brain-dead" patients have cerebral cortex activity that can be detected via EEG's.

To yogini eggnogini:

How many neurons have to be firing for a person to be capable of suffering? I don't know. Neither does the medical profession. We don't know what consciousness is or how it is generated.

I can't prove that the "heart-beating cadaver" is suffering when the surgeons saw open her rib cage and start slicing out her vital organs, but if paralyzing drugs are not administed, she would certainly seem to be suffering, and appearances are all we have to go on for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Answer 1

We've already seen this stuff. Look, if I'm dying then they can take whatever they want. There are drugs to keep me out of pain and if I'm going to die then what does it matter if my blood pressure and heart rate soar? I would rather contribute to saving the life of someone else if I'm on the way out. Honestly, you're dying. Your heart is going to give out one way or another. No pain and someone else's gain suits me just fine.

Answer 2

I don't think I'm gonna care, since my brain will be dead. And if my body has been wrecked beyond the point of an existence with quality, then I'll be glad if someone else can make use of parts of what I'm about to leave anyway.

Answer 3

I never thought about that, but it makes a lot of sense.

I know that athletes and enhance their performance by taking blood out, practicing for a few months, create new blood, and put the other blood back in so that they have extra blood.

The opposite would have to be worse.

Answer 4

Wouldn't donating an organ imply that this is the end of your life? I wouldn't be so concerned, but I would want the recipient to know that this new heart belonged to an Atheist.

Answer 5

Not even slightly surprised.

People like to think of the brain as being the single repository of all nervous function - but clearly it can't be that way.

Answer 6

Didn't know that, but it doesn't change my stance on becoming an organ donor. If I reach the stage that they have to do that, I certainly don't need them anymore.

Answer 7

Brain death is death. Brain death is not a coma or a vegetative state.

If someone is declared brain dead and their organs are being kept alive by a ventilator, they would not have any organ function without the ventilator. Once disconnected, they would simply be dead.

A dead person does not feel. The body may have reflexes, but that has nothing to do with consciousness.

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Brain death is the state of irreversible loss of brain function
due to organic brain lesions. Although there are minor
variations among the criteria that are used to define brain
death, the essential criteria for establishing brain death include
complete unresponsiveness, permanent apnea, and an absence
of brainstem reflexes (1). A variety of reflex movements have
been reported in patients with brain death, such as plantar
responses, muscle stretch reflexes, abdominal reflexes, and
finger jerks (2). Because the aforementioned reflexes are spinal
reflexes, the existence of such reflex movements does not
preclude the diagnosis of brain death.

***

The term brain death is defined as "irreversible unconsciousness with complete loss of brain function," including the brain stem, although the heartbeat may continue. Demonstration of brain death is the accepted criterion for establishing the fact and time of death. Factors in diagnosing brain death include irreversible cessation of brain function as demonstrated by fixed and dilated pupils, lack of eye movement, absence of respiratory reflexes (apnea), and unresponsiveness to painful stimuli. In addition, there should be evidence that the patient has experienced a disease or injury that could cause brain death. A final determination of brain death must involve demonstration of the total lack of electrical activity in the brain by two electroencephalographs (EEGs) taken twelve to twenty-four hours apart. Finally, the physician must rule out the possibilities of hypothermia or drug toxicities, the symptoms of which may mimic brain death. Some central nervous system functions such as spinal reflexes that can result in movement of the limbs or trunk may persist in brain death.

Until the late twentieth century, death was defined in terms of loss of heart and lung functions, both of which are easily observable criteria. However, with modern technology these functions can be maintained even when the brain is dead, although the patient's recovery is hopeless, sometimes resulting in undue financial and emotional stress to family members. French neurologists were the first to describe brain death in 1958. Patients with coma depasse were unresponsive to external stimuli and unable to maintain homeostasis. A Harvard Medical School committee proposed the definition used in this entry, which requires demonstration of total cessation of brain function. This definition is almost universally accepted.

Brain death is not medically or legally equivalent to severe vegetative state. In a severe vegetative state, the cerebral cortex, the center of cognitive functions including consciousness and intelligence, may be dead while the brain stem, which controls basic life support functions such as respiration, is still functioning. Death is equivalent to brain stem death. The brain stem, which is less sensitive to anoxia (loss of adequate oxygen) than the cerebrum, dies from cessation of circulation for periods exceeding three to four minutes or from intracranial catastrophe, such as a violent accident.

Difficulties with ethics and decision making may arise if it is not made clear to the family that brain stem death is equivalent to death. According to research conducted by Jacqueline Sullivan and colleagues in 1999 at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, roughly one-third to one-half of physicians and nurses surveyed do not adequately explain to relatives that brain dead patients are, in fact, dead. Unless medical personnel provide family members with information that all cognitive and life support functions have irreversibly stopped, the family may harbor false hopes for the loved one's recovery. The heartbeat may continue or the patient may be on a respirator (often inaccurately called "life support") to maintain vital organs because brain dead individuals who were otherwise healthy are good candidates for organ donation. In these cases, it may be difficult to convince improperly informed family members to agree to organ donation.

Answer 8

Well, it does make sense. I wouldn't think my body would think that nothings going on! Of course it's going to react in someway. It still dosn't mean I would "feel" pain.

Answer 9

Good. Than there will be more oxygen in the organ for the next person who uses it.

Answer 10

I did know that if you donate an organ, you're at higher risk for high blood pressure.