Organ Donor or No?
 

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Have you made yourself an organ donor? If you haven't why not? If you have why?


I'm normally not too selfish a person, but I draw the line at my body parts. I would gladly give something to someone I loved (a kidney, marrow,etc) but I refuse to have a hospital cut me up and have my organs used for someone I don't know. What if they give my heart to some asshole who fucks ppl over all the time? What if my eyes go to a rapist? I feel like the body is one of the very few things you own throughout your life, and I want it all to be in the same place, whether as ashes of cremation or a big chunk of meat if my wishes of cremation or being fed to ocean life are honored.

absolutely yes i am a donor -- i think anything else is at best paranoid and at worst extremely selfish. your eyes *could* go to a rapist, or they could go to the person who may go on to cure cancer (provided he or she has working eyes to look into a microscope). your heart could go to an asshole or to the next mother teresa. I don't understand why you'd choose to focus on the possible bad (and really maybe getting a new heart from a very giving stranger might turn the asshole into a saint) instead of the probable good.

I never gave the issue much thought until my newborn niece died. Her death, while it seemed pointless and capricious at the time, may mean that several other sick children will get a chance at life. That event changed my mind about organ donation. I only hope that I can do as much good in my life as she did in the two days she was alive.

Yes, I am. I don't really see any reason not to be, no religious beliefs that exclude it or anything. Besides, I plan on being creamated so it's not like I need everything in its proper place. Considering the good it does I don't really understand why anyone would choose not to be an organ donor.

Holo: What if the person recieving the organs was YOU? When you do something you set an example that others follow.

Absolutely I am. My grandfather was given sight by an organ donor. My dad, as a result, has always advocated for it. I guess I was raised to simply believe it is the right thing to do. Besides, my parts will do me no good when I"m gone and I want to be cremated, so no big deal.

Yup...and after they harvest what ever is good (it ain't gonna be my liver, lol) I want to be cremated.

Yep, I'm an organ donor. I could really care less what happens to my guts when I'm done, and I'm a dick on an everyday basis, so I guess I'll consider it my one good deed.

I guess another way I look at it, its like crushing old cars when theres plenty of goodies to still be parted out and used for restoration!

I have been asked this every time I say I won't donate my organs, and after much thought I would not accept organs. Most wouldn't understand that, but If I won't give my organs I shouldn't take them either. If I was in an accident and they replaced something while unconscious or comatose I can't be morally at fault as I couldn't object.


The core of it is I don't want my body parts being used by other ppl after my death. I think my body belongs to me and if I don't want to share it with others I have no obligation to do so. I may be able to do good...but I hate the thought of my death helping someone I would despise much more than I like the positive. No matter how much I hear arguments against my decision it's something I feel very deeply against doing. I just can't give myself to it.

holo: how do you feel about less extreme donation -- like blood or plasma or bone marrow or even hair? is your issue with giving *any* of yourself away or just the parts that you feel are vital?

Currently Im not...but I plan to change that when I turn 21 and get my new license etc.

I can't give blood, marrow or plasma for physical reasons (not AIDS) but if someone wanted my hair they could have what I have at the time. I could always grow more. And I could give a loved one part of me while I was living, like if my gf or daughter needed a kidney and we were a match. But not after death, because I couldn't decide how my parts were to be used.

Do you really think it's likely your parts would go to someone shady like that? I imagine those people make up a small percentage of organ recievers considering there's a national list and all.

this is where my personal paranoia kicks in. Think what you will of this, but I don't believe that the rich can't pull some strings and get a jump in line. With money anything is possible, and someone who would think themselves better than others and used their monetary influence to get ahead of a little girl waiting for my heart doesn't deserve to live on my gurney scraps. I will never believe that this can't happen or doesn't, so I can't feel comfortable with giving up my parts for other's use. Like I said, I could give to someone close while I was alive and knowing the part went to someone I could trust with a part of me, but never a stranger I don't, and never after death when the decision isn't mine. It's my body, and I want the power to use it as I see fit. I can't do that if I'm not alive anymore.

ok, i think this is a pretty valid point -- and reading it made me think. The truth is that in our society money does buy health care and that doesn't sit well with me. also, our society does need to work a little harder on accepting aging and death, sometimes it's time to go, no matter how old you are or how much money you have or how many people love you. i'm still hugely pro organ donation but the argument against the rich having better access to available organs made me think in a way that the "what if a criminal gets my liver?!?!" argument never did... probably because it seems more likely.

Even if someone buys themself an organ...if you don't donate that may be one less organ for someone who really needs it. The rich will still buy theres. At least if there are more in the pool the poor will have better odds of fishing something out.

If I'm gonna die...what am I going to do with my organs? Take 'em, save a life, and cremate my remains.

Yes you're probably right...it always goes back to this very subconcious feeling it's wrong. It's like meeting someone and getting a very bad feeling about them. Every time I consider my position I get that feeling when I consider being an organ donor. My reasons I believe are sound, but at the heart of it,no pun intended, I can't allow my body to be used by anyone I don't know and trust. My right to dispose of my body as I see fit is as important as a woman's right of pro-choice. I believe in both, as they are basically the same issue.

Yep, I'm a donor. As Arsenic said, even if assholes are at the front of the line, mine will be one more, and if that helps even one "non-asshole," then that's enough for me.

And, maybe I'm being naive, but there's always hope for redemption. Sure, maybe the person who gets something from me was an ass his entire life; but maybe he'd turn everything around and end up a decent person.

Currently I'm not, and I'm not really sure which I'll chose at 21.

Also a friend of mine said he heard your more likely to not be saved in a hospital if your in critical condition if you are an organ donor. It very well may not be true though.

I am not, and I'm not sure why.

I will be, since there is a great chance I'll die of heart failure earlier then later, I'm sure I'll have something good to give.

And should that mean that I won't be saved, so be it.

Yep I am. I don't want my good organs to go to waste when someone may need them.

I am and I respect your opinion and feel that there are valid points (Holo). But taht doesn't stop me from disagreeing :). In any event I have known not closely but known people who have been given a second chance from organ donation and really you are right that sometimes the wrong people get a transplant that really shouldn't, but the fact that you can touch a life like that is something I always consider.

One thing I dont' understand though is that you don't want your body to be used by someone you don't know or trust. The fact that you never knew them and you are now dead kind of points out the impossibility of the whole situation. Really though I guess i'm the opposite end of the fence and I can't really even comprehend completely your thought.

Yes i am.
I can relate on a personal lvl....my aunt received one of the first heart and double lung transplants ever preformed 19 years ago. I'm not going to bore you with details, but the difference those organs made for her body was awesome. She would not be here today if she didn't get the operation.

BECOME A DONOR LINK

Absolutely not true. The doctors/nurses/etc. in the ER don't know whether you're a donor or not.

If anyone can use some of my parts after I die they can have them.

I am. I figure once I'm dead, I don't need them. Polycystic kidney disease runs in my family, and a handful of my extended family have recieved kidneys from donors who have passed away or from family members who don't have the disease. Because of this, the donor thing hits pretty close to home.

Donor here.

I don't care much for humanity, but I have a weakness for sick people. :P

I want to be a donor. My parents and brother are aware of my wish and I had marked it on my driver's liscense. My husband though says that he would be adamantly against them chopping me up. (Though from what I've heard they can do it carefully to preserve to outer look for an open casket funeral.) I've given up trying to make it a possibility because from what I've heard it doesn't matter how much you want to be a donor, if your family objects, then they can't do it. If you know of a way around that I would love to know what it is.

Yes, and I have been forever. My grandfather had a heart transplant from an organ donor a few years ago, and he's still alive today. I feel no need to keep my organs after I'm dead. I won't be using them any more, so if they can help someone else I am fine with giving them up. Thinking that I could be saving someone's life if I were to die makes death seem a little less tragic.

well if you [i]want[.i] to be a donor, then perhaps educate your husband on the treatment of the body, maybe even speaking to adonor organization by email or phone to explain the process in detail. I'm all for anyone being a donor-it's your body to do with as you please. I don't think an SO should stand in the way either yay or nay, but his adamant stance shows how he cares for you. I'd get him educated so you both can be happy about your decision.

I'm a donor, pretty much for a lot of the same reasons other people have stated. If I die, I can't use my body but perhaps someone else can. And I can't see the end of all things - perhaps an asshole gets my heart, but he saves the life of some little old lady crossing the street and she donates a billion dollars to cure cancer or something. Not mine to judge.

I'm an organ donor and I guess my reasoning is, even if I can't live, if there's something inside me that will help someone else live, than it's worth it to give it to them so they may live longer.

Your friend is speaking utter bullshit. THe people in the ER and op room are there for your safety, they do thier job for a living because its what they want to do, SAVE PEOPLE.

In my eyes anyone who isnt a donor is selfish and incosiderate.
I dont honestly care what your religion says, or what lie you tell your self. If you are dead, and somone needs your organ to live, give it to them damnit.

My father is living today due to somone whole heartedly enough to be a donor, and when I think and listen to others specifically saying they will not due to some generally bs reason, it irritates me to no end.

my body is only my body... after I die, the gov't, science, the church, my parents (lets hope no them), my kids, my wife (if she's still alive), needing families, etc. can have it and do whatever with it, use the organs, profit off it, whatever... its only a body and once I'm dead I have no more use for it.. if ANYONE can make use of it.. I say let em have at it... frankly I don't care if my body is left on stakes in the mojhave desert after I die... whoop dee la de da freaking do...

but yeah... donating orgains sure, I'll donate my brain too. if ya want it.. ;)

and after that... umm... whatever you wanna do to it is fine with me.. even if it means BBQ.. :p doubt that happens though.. with legality and all... soo burnination is fine

yes i am an organ doner. i wasnt until i renewed my licience but i think it would be best so i did it.


a friend died and he saved a few people... thus i will too

i have no use of my parts when i die, so i'm an organ donor to :)

id be an organ donor. just seems right. letting someone not have a chance to live.. seems wrong to me

i haven't only because i forgot to tell them that when i got my driver's liscense. Otherwise i would've and i will the next time i get my liscense renewed.

Yeah, I got sent a sticker that I put over the address bar of my drivers licence. You can do it anytime.