Organ Donor

[Dark Knight]

Romig

once you are dead you are not a member of society, you are dead, all priveledges are revokes, so why think a dead person has a view
next the dead will be voting and having civil ceremonies

[Manoverboard]

.... or will become Moderators

[Dark Knight]

Mobyplod
being brain dead is not quite the same as being really dead

[Mo2013]

I have a donor card but have not filled it in. This is because I have a fear that I might not be dead, but paralysed (it does happen) and it is terrifying to think I might be alive but not be able to communicate that to anyone. By the same token I am horrified when I saw the parents of a little girl on tv this week who is in desperate need of a transplant. Heartbreaking. I will ask my family to make sure that I am properly dead and then the doctors can have whatever they can harvest.

[suespud]

I have a donor card but have not filled it in. This is because I have a fear that I might not be dead, but paralysed (it does happen) and it is terrifying to think I might be alive but not be able to communicate that to anyone. By the same token I am horrified when I saw the parents of a little girl on tv this week who is in desperate need of a transplant. Heartbreaking. I will ask my family to make sure that I am properly dead and then the doctors can have whatever they can harvest.

Thats understandable. I guess many of us will have that fear and give our families the same instructions.

[Mo2013]

A member of my family is going blind and if her condition meant that she could have someone else's eyes .......

[Onelife]

Hi Stephen

Nice to see you’re making an appearance again.... apparently some of the other members have missed you

...................

Both my wife and daughter are registered; I however still carry a card with the words ...”Only to be used as fertiliser" written on the back.

Can I take you back about 7 years to when our daughter was about 9 years old... as it was about this time we first approached organ donation with her....at this point I must say that the thought of losing a child is my worst and every parent’s nightmare and hopefully this is something we’ll never have to encounter... (Those who have gone through this terrible ordeal have my heartfelt sympathy).

The sad fact is that some parents could find themselves facing the heart wrenching decision of deciding whether or not to donate their Childs organs for transplantation.

Should the unthinkable happen and you do find yourselves in that dreadful position then I would imagine knowing your child’s wishes prior to making this decision would make that decision a little easier to shoulder.

As a parent I /we have always been very open with our daughter and can talk about anything (without too much embarrassment)....I think this is mostly due to the fact that we started discussing things very early In her life...I have to admit I did feel a little embarrassed when my 5 year old daughter’s teacher said that our daughter had explained to her class how babies were made...using such words as “sperm”.... Hey! I know I’m waffling again but what I am trying to say is that children are far more capable of coping with some of the harsh realities of life if they are gradually exposed to them...using organ donation as an example.

Whatever you do don't let a day go by without telling them how much you love them.

Regards

OL

[gfwgfw]

As I have previously stated that I have a vested interest in organ donation

IMO all that is required is for people to "opt out" rather than "opt in"

Sadly I do not think this will ever happen, even though it has been debated many times by many people in many countries

But I will leave you with this

An 19 year old lad was fatally injured in an TRA in our village

His brother made overtures that he would like his brother's organs "harvested"

I know the lads mother was not too happy with this suggestion

But In a way I believed this jester did help the whole family with their grief

Bless you all and have a peaceful night

Graham

[david63]

Before I start I too am on the organ donor register and have been a blood donor for many years.

I am in two minds over this, and other similar medical issues.

There are two scenarios with organ donation, one is the improvement in "quality of life" with such things as, say, the donating of eyes and the other is the prolonging of life with, for example, a heart donation.

I have no issue at all with the first scenario but I am unsure on the second. Now I know that if I, or any member of my family, was in the situation where an organ transplant would save/prolong their life then I would almost certainly be in favour of it and, probably in some ways, I am being hypocritical when I say that the human body, be that in individual or the species, is all part of a "master plan" whereby it wears out at pre determined time as a means of balancing the planet's resources and we should not interfere with the "natural order".

I also accept that in some cases there is a very fine line between the two scenarios but this is something that I have had trouble with coming to terms with for some time now and is not based on any religious grounds but is more of a philosophical line of thinking.

[Onelife]

Hi David

If I’m following your philosophical line correctly then surely the human species wouldn’t now be enjoying a life expectancy that now allows us to live well into our seventies?

Without medical intervention most of us wouldn’t have lived much past our forties.

This has only been possible due to medical advancments with such things as antibiotics, medication and pioneering surgery.

It could be argued that we’ve reached a cut off point as to how far we pursue extending individual lives but if we do that then we are in fact taking a step back in our evolutionary journey.

Apologies if I have missed the point you were making

Regards

Keith

[Kendhni]

At the minute I believe medical advancement has currently moved beyond evolutionary advancement and people are being kept alive beyond the usefulness of their bodies.

A year or two ago I listened to an interesting debate where the morality of keeping people alive was being questioned. On one hand there was an emotional argument that we have to care for those that need it ... while on the other hand there was a more logical argument whereby this willingness to divert resource and effort towards caring for those that needed it prevented us from breeding out defective genes and held back the overall advancement of the species.

It is the only time where I have questioned 'logic' over 'emotion'.

[david63]

OL - it is not just medical intervention that has extended life expectancy there are many other factors such as improvements to diet and sanitation or dare I suggest H&S which has improved the workplace.

[Manoverboard]

Transplants will, in the vast majority if cases, be used to extend the life of a younger person rather than us golden oldies and that is because many would not get through the operations involved in the process. It is not therefore about extending life beyond three score and ten.

Having said that I am aware of a 91 year old who has just been fitted with a pacemaker.

[Greenie Mike]

I was 73 when I had quadruple heart by-pass.

How old is 'old'?

I owe it to the NHS to get as much out of life as possible. If it wasn't for them I 'might' not be here.

[Kendhni]

Must resist temptation to comment .....

[Stephen]

Onelife
'Nice to see you’re making an appearance again.... apparently some of the other members have missed you'

>
>
>

Which one

[Boris+]

Need you ask - me,me,me, me!

Em

[Manoverboard]

Have just completed an online Tax Disk application and have posted to advise that at the end of the DVLA process there is an option to ' Register as an Organ Doner '.

Seemed like a good idea

[Romig1]

Have just completed an online Tax Disk application and have posted to advise that at the end of the DVLA process there is an option to ' Register as an Organ Doner '.

Seemed like a good idea

I'm sure I've eaten a few of those following a heavy night out!

[Romig1]

What about being a living donor?

Would you consider donating bone marrow, or even a kidney?

[Manoverboard]

Have just completed an online Tax Disk application and have posted to advise that at the end of the DVLA process there is an option to ' Register as an Organ Doner '.

Seemed like a good idea

I'm sure I've eaten a few of those following a heavy night out!

... I am just a little bit tempted to correct it but, hey

[Silver_Shiney]

We are all on the register for everything..bar my youngest son... like you Jo doesnt want to donate his eyes.
His reasoning is...if people come to see him in his coffin he doesnt want to look odd.

No amount of talking is making him change his mind.
He works in an Opticians and his sisiter is an DO and they obviously deal with eyes and the problems.
But noooo ...'take everything else but leave my eyes' he says !!

They actually pad out the eye sockets so the deceased's face looks normal.

My dad's eyes were intact, but were it not for his shock of white hair and a scab on his scalp where he'd fallen out of bed the week before, I wouldn't have recognised him in his coffin.