To wonder how many of you not on the organ donor register

[Normalisavariantofcrazy]

Would be happy to accept an organ on behalf of yourself or a relative?

If you are, excluding health reasons, why are you not on the organ donor register? Is it just a case of not getting round to it, if so

register here

I have had 2 transplants. I think the specifying argument is interesting but also silly really. I think if you believe in organ donation you need to go into it without expectation and organs go to teh best match and most in need so to say patient A can't have it may mean no one else is suitable and every transplant they do they get more adept and you are donating inn hat way too acc to one of my doctors it moves the whole process further on

I signed up to the organ donation register when I was a child, after my 7 year old best friend was killed in a car accident. He was on the register and his organs, including his eyes, helped numerous other children to live. I think that is an amazing thing to do.

I have no problem with them taking any part of me when I'm dead, even my eyes. I won't be using them. I can't say I understand the thing people have against their eyes being used. There is nothing special about eyes.

Maybe I'd feel differently if they were able to do brain transplants, but that is "cogito ergo sum" territory.

I agree it is selfish not to donate but to accept from others. Unfortunately it is a very selfish society. I can't give blood as have had transfusions and haven't got around to joining a donor register. I too feel uneasy/tempting fate about it. I know it is very silly and I should get over myself. An opt out would be ideal as there are many with this feeling. DH and I have discussed the issue though and we would donate.

Silly Q maybe but what actually happens,do people (medical staff) check everytime someone dies to see if they are a donor or is it just if it is the 'right' kind of death and organs can be taken?

I'm on the register and also donate blood.

Re donating blood, what criteria rules you in/out?

I think its a shame (and strange) how many people wont donate corneas. As someone whos had one corneal transplant and will need it replaced and my other cornea replaced too I can't tell you how important they are. ok its not life threatening but I cant tell you what a massive difference it makes to day to day life.

I'm in, DH is in, and if anyone for whom I am next if kin dies, they can take anything useful and I have no qualms about who it goes to.

I also support an automatic register of donors.

I find the concept of being willing to accept a life saving organ whilst simultaneously being unwilling to donate absolutely breathtakingly selfish and absurd.

I am on the register, so is DH. If it came to it I would donate DS's organs too. It would be very comforting to know I might be have spared another parent the pain of losit a child. Weret both on the bone marrow marrow register too. I cantt giver blood as I've got shite veins, but DH is does not regularly.

If you don't like the idea of going to your grave with a piece missing, surely you wouldn't want to do it with someone else's (maybe a very nasty person's) parts inside you either?

Not on the register (but pro organ donation) - DH knows my wishes. Would I accept an organ? I don't know! With my history of bad reactions to medications possibly not.

DH is on the register; neither of our dc's are though as we think being on the register ought to e their decision, DD hasn't taken a view yet (if the worst happened we would agree to donate) but DS is very strongly against at this point (we would comply with his wishes albeit very reluctantly in the case of DH). We would accept an organ for either of our DC if they needed it.

I'm on the register as is DH. If a person is registered, I don't think that relatives, regardless of their grief, should get say in whether a dead relative donates. IMHO, it is incredibly disrespectful not to carry out the deceased's last wishes of organ donation, if that's what they want.

get a say. Doh!!!

Chiggers - I've not read the whole thread, but can that happen? Someone can register themselves but find after death that a family member can deny donation?

That is appalling.

I can't give blood as it makes me pass out (low BP and wobbly about needles at the best of times) but there's nothing wrong with the blood itself - indeed I'm O+ so a first-stage match for over half the population.

Nearly nobody dies in circumstances permitting donation, as I understand it, which is why we need nearly everyone to be on the register.

It's a bit of a myth (when it come to hearts at least) that donors tend to come from victims of fatal accidents.

Typically when someone dies in those circumstances, the body is flooded with adrenaline and this will often leave organs damaged beyond repair

I'm on the register and I think it's shocking that my wishes could be overridden by my family after death.

The argument about not wanting to donate to someone who's illness is 'self inflicted' is fucking ridiculous. What about fat people? They put a strain on their organs would they too not be permitted a donated organ? Giving anyone a chance in life can only be a good thing, what if an alcoholic used a donation to turn their life around, it doesnt automatically mean after they recieve a new liver they are going to be on the piss.

My DH had a heart transplant in February. Not only has it increased his life expectancy from one year to around twenty, it has meant our DDs, aged 3 and 5 get to know him and grow up with him.

We are in New Zealand - here they ARE strict about giving organs and you don't get one if you are an alcoholic or drug addict.

Will come back with a more thought out reply soon- on twain to work at moment and standing and wobbling around!

Here if you are fat they make you lose weight before accepting you on the active waiting list for a transplant.

In Maori culture (and I think wider pacific island culture) you are expected to be buried intact so there is a huge shortage of donors. Interestingly when we were in the transplant clinic, there was a Maori lady who had a serious genetic heart condition. Four of her siblings had died from it as their elder family members had refused to let them be considered to RECEIVE an organ. She was the first as she had small children.

Did you know even if you have been dead 24 hours they can still use your cornea and skin. Skin is used as temporary dressings for burn victims and can make a significant difference in recovery and scarring.

I'm on the list but I absolutely do not want an 'opt-out' system, nor do I feel comfortable 'shaming' those who would accept but not donate an organ into registering.

I can't explain why, but it just doesn't sit very well with me, and although medicine can do as it wishes with me when I'm dead (and then turn me into ashes, please) I think it is a hugely personal decision.

I think reading / watching 'Never Let Me Go' really made me think a lot about this subject. Bodily autonomy, spiritual beliefs etc.

I'm on the register, DH is too and we have talked to the DDs about what they would want to happen if anything should happen to them - they would both want their organs donated, and they will be going on the register themselves as soon as they are old enough.

It's the single and simple selfless good deed we can all do - we do not need our shell after we have passed on.

I haven't a clue if relatives can override a person's with to donate their organs. If they can (which DH wouldn't), then I will take steps to ensure that my organs are donated and counter that decision.

There should be a box to tick stating that relatives cannot override the deceased's decision to donate their organs.

I am on the register, as is DH (though he has had cancer and chemo so some bits may be ineligible) and all our families. I have a fair bit of work-based experience in the area - I have assisted in organ retrievals from deceased donors, and in transplants, and anaesthetised for live-donor kidney retrievals/transplants. I have also worked on ICU caring for patients who go on to become donors. There are a lot of myths out there about it - certainly no patient would ever be allowed to die because they were a donor, much less because some rich person wanted an organ.

jellybeans No, it's not an option for most people who die, most donors come from ICU or very occasionally from A&E. It's a combination of organs becoming unusable very soon after death, (so the transplant team, which may be coming from a long way away, would not arrive in time to retrieve them before they were irreversibly damaged) and many being unsuitable due to the patient's age or other medical problems. Only a very small number of people who die are actually eligible to become donors, sadly.

Stunned by some people's selfishness

I once heard a lady who had a transplant and was advised by her doctors not to have children say that: she had had one child, damaged the transplanted organ and thought that people were selfish because she now had to wait for another one and the person she was talking to was not on the register.

I think that calling people selfish for making different choices to you about their body is ridiculous.

I feel that it is selfish to pin your hopes on somebody
dying. That is why I dont feel that it would be right for me to accept an organ.

I think that you need to respect my right to do what I choose with my body. I totally oppose an opt out system as I am not the property of the state.