Do you believe in organ donation?

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I'm fine with organ donations. I'll be dead by then, so not like I'm gonna need them. I've been thinking about getting a donor card.

As for donating when I'm alive... I think I would donate a kidney to close family or friends, assuming we were a match.

what about a bone marrow donation? that's another way of saving a person's life with a bit of yourself and you don't even have to die

i am in the register for two years now, so far no one needs my type...

See http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... eople.html

Ed Almos

As an Egyptian I believe that my organs should be buried with me so that I can use them in my next life.

Interesting stuff, but not too surprising... other than...

So there are a number of people who believe that when you no longer need an organ, you should give it away?

Lots of you seem to believe that "Saving just one life" is a good reason to donate an organ... or 5.

How many of you know much about organ recipients?

How many of you would be pissed off and NOT wish to donate if the person who receives your organ goes out and trashes it just like they trashed their first set?

It does happen.

You have no control that I know of as to who gets your organ.
There's no contract spelling out the conditions upon which they can have your organ and what happens if they do not take good care of it. Oh, I know, these people are screened... but I have seen some who apparently slipped through the screening process.

I have always found the notion that, "God gave us the talents to do these miraculous things so we should do them!" to be a bit hard to believe.

We, as human beings, have the intellectual capacity to do many wonderful, bizarre, and cruel things.
Prolonging life just because we can doesn't always seem like a good idea to me.
I certainly agree with the poster who said it is 'Quality' of life that matters most rather than 'Quantity'.

I find it interesting that people will argue against someone with a terminal illness who wants to take their own life, yet keep someone on a ventilator who is 90 years old with CHF, diabetes, and possibly a host of other issues.
I have heard doctors say that they do not believe in 'doctor assisted' suicide because it goes against their Hippocratic oath, yet they will work to keep that suffering person alive against their own wishes.
The phrase, "We're not going to play GOD!", has been tossed about by M.D.'s as well as hospital administrators, and government officials when discussing the issue of "pulling the plug" on someone.

Yet... isn't it "playing GOD" to keep someone alive past the point their body can do so by itself?
Isn't it "playing GOD" when certain people have the power to decide who deserves an organ and who doesn't?

I suppose some of you will bring up the fact that we save lives in the emergency room, operating room, by dispensing medicines that keep someone's insulin level correct, or their heart in working order, etc.

These are all issues I think people take for granted, mostly.
If you are a believer in Western religions... as I understand them... then why would you want to go against GOD's obvious plan that we are supposed to die. It certainly seems to me that to fight it is to fight GOD's will.
I know that in the Bible, Jesus is said to have cured many. Did he prolong life for the aged though? Did he intervene in every death?
Where in the Bible does it say we should transplant organs?
If the human body is sacred, how can we go about re-organizing things or swapping things body-to-body in disregard to how GOD created us?

These are questions I have always had concerning religion.

I wholeheartingly believe in organ donation, and not just to my family or after my death. I'll donate whatever I can to save lifes, whether it be my kidney or bone marrow, without fear of pain or being 'unnatural'. Every life is precious and deserves to be saved, regardless of what they've done or will do with it, it's not my place to judge. I will not let a person die, or have a mother bury her child if I can prevent it.

On a side note, I've seen you make a few threads on controversial topics, then undermine anyones opinions that are unlike your own.

I personally know one organ recipient (50 something year old woman who needed a liver as a result of hepatitis). And my mother has a disease that could possibly in the future affect one of her organs. Most people don't "trash" their organs. Through no fault of their own they contract life threatening illnesses. If my mother is ever in the situation where one of her organs does fail, I would be eternally grateful that someone had donated one of their organs to keep her alive because I love her, I'm dependent on her and she wouldn't "trash" her organs. After I'm dead I'll have no use for my organs and if there is a chance that they will help someone, I'll take it. Of course there is always a chance that they will go to someone who might not be worth it, but it's a chance I'd be willing to take.

Thanks for the reminder.

I need to get a new donor card, as this one has been in my wallet for 16 years and the contact phone number is out of date. I can't recall when I first started carrying one - whenever they first became available.

I crossed out part A (the selective list of organs) in favour of part B, so it reads: "I request that after my death any part of my body may be used for the treatment of others".

I find all the hypocrisy annoying. 99% of people who prevaricate about carrying a donor card would accept a donor organ if the need arose.

I've not seen anyone who's dead make much use of their organs (other than Michael Jackson).

PS. I don't have to "believe in" organ donation. I know it exists. I do "approve of" it.

Your 99% seems like a wild guess.
One simple everyday example of a group of people who do not wish a simple and common transplant are the Jehovah's Witnesses. The majority of them (as polled in a survey), remained stead-fast against blood transfusions.
Despite the deaths of adults and children, there are JW's who will die rather than take whole blood from another body than theirs (I understand they accept autologous transfusions... blood they have taken out prior to surgery and reintroduced into their bodies if needed).



Of course not.

Fairly much so. I thought it might be of the correct order, though.


I'd guess the JWs are the major group, in the west, yes.

So, I revise my figures.
99.6% of people in the US of A, etc...
99.8% of people in Britain, etc....

Most organ recipients are not in need of replacements due to "trashing their first set"...they were given defective equipment in the first place! Since there's no return process for that sort of thing, if I'm dead of an aneurysm and I have a perfectly good liver, kidneys, heart, or whatever that someone is in dire need of, they're more than welcome to it. It got me that far, after all!

Organ donation is SO important and vital, and as a medical professional, it baffles me when people don't even consider giving such a precious gift.

Here are some interesting organ transplant statistics:
10 percent of patients on the U.S. heart transplant waiting list are under 18 years old.

Every day, 17 people die in the U.S. while waiting for an organ transplant.

Tissue donation can enhance the lives of more than 50 people. Donated heart valves, bone, skin, corneas and connective tissues can be used in vital medical procedures such as heart valve replacements, limb reconstruction following tumor surgery, hip and knee joint reconstruction and in correcting curvature of the spine.

An estimated 12,000 people who die each year meet the criteria for organ donation, but less than half of that number become actual organ donors.

It is estimated that about 35 percent of potential donors never become donors because family members refuse to give consent. Please make sure your loved ones know your decision ahead of time.

Recycle yourself: become an organ donor!