To ask you not to leave it until it's too late.....

[KnappShappey]

to discuss organ donation with your family and next of kin.

New statistics released today show that organ donation has dropped by 5% for the first time in 10 years.....

Only 58% of families allowed organ donation to go ahead despite the wishes of their loved ones.

Don't leave it to your family to struggle with the decision once you have gone, discuss it today........

You can register online and share your decision on Facebook to raise awareness amongst friends.

[Lurkedforever1]

Without wishing to de rail the thread would someone explain why it's important to them their body is buried intact?
In rl it's only ever been said in passing to me by people I'm not well acquainted with so to ask them I'd be putting someone on the spot. I won't debate it further I'm just interested in the logic because I can't think of any.

[tilliebob]

I remember watching a programme where 6 or 8 people were given organs/corneas/valves which saved their lives. I can't imagine not doing that for 6 or 8 families if I could. If God forbid anything happened to one of my dcs, why wouldn't I take the opportunity of saving a number of other families the same grief?

[jeee]

StitchingMoss, if organ donation required people to be on the register, it means factors other than medical need/medical suitability are being taken into account. And that's a very slippery slope.

A transplant is not, and should never be, some sort of reward for good behaviour/altruism.

[PtolemysNeedle]

Demelza, I think people often make the decision without knowing exactly what will happen, or what the experience will be like for their closest relatives at the hospital. That's why it important that NOK can make the choice the way things are at the moment, but if the procedure was explained to people before the event, then we could be more certain that the deceased made an informed choice.

Lurked, wanting to be buried or cremated whole is only one of the reasons why someone might not want to donate, there is often far more to it when a person actively chooses not to be a donor.

[RabidFairy]

My mum had a double lung transplant in 2009. The recovery was long and arduous; the lungs were perfect and the operation a success, but various other ailments meant she nearly died twice in the 6 months she spent in hospital. Now, though, she is in great health. She probably would not have lived to see 2010 had she not received her lungs. She attended my wedding wearing an oxygen mask with a canister in a backpack. But now she has 4 grandchildren she would otherwise never have met and she's winning awards for keeping her business running successfully throughout this time and afterwards.

So yeah, our extended family are all on the register and none of us would overrule the others wishes. We're big believers in organ donation.

[BikketBikketBikket]

When I was told that my DM probably had only an hour to live, my first response was to say that she was on the register, and that if any of her organs/eyes etc could be used, I knew that this was what she wanted. (She made an amazing recovery and lived for another 3 years )
Her younger brother died from kidney failure at 36 - he went from being strong and healthy to death in 6 weeks, leaving a widow and two young children - in the days before transplants, and DM had always said that she would willingly have given him a kidney...he just died 10 years too early
I was 7 when he died, but for the same reason I am signed up - and have threatened my family that I will come back and haunt them if they don't respect my wishes
DH and I discussed it when our DC were young, and we both felt that the only thing that might possibly help us to cope with the loss of one of them would be the knowledge that our tragedy had enabled others to live - one donor could potentially save seven (or more) lives...

[vvviola]

Slight tangent - it is of course possible for a NOK to allow the donation of organs even if the person didn't register/explicitly said they didn't want their organs donated. It really is 100% down to the NOK - registers in their current form are just a way of indicating preference to help medics/NOK. They are not binding in any way.

(Really must go and search for my notes on this, I did a lot of international comparison work on it, and there are few (no?) countries with a strict opt-out/no overruling system)

[StitchingMoss]

It's not a "reward" but why should my organs go to someone too selfish to share their own?

It makes me so mad when people come up with stupid reasons ("I don't like the thought") but then when pushed admit they would take an organ for themselves of a loved one.

I know it would never be implemented but IMO it should be!

[jeee]

I'm still about a person who'd had a liver transplant, and was waiting for a kidney transplant, but whose family weren't on the register because they didn't like the sound of it....

And my sister died waiting for an organ. In fairness, she'd already been given two - a gift that allowed her to meet all four of my children, and get a place on the paralympic team (even though she was too ill to take part).

I just don't believe that placing any conditions, other than medical ones, on transplants can be justified. Ever. Even when it seems unfair.

[jeee]

The first line was meant to have an emoticon in it... It should read, "I'm still shocked...."

[KnappShappey]

I am overwhelmed by some of the positive posts and the amazing bravery and attitudes shown by people in really tough times, the gift you and your families have given can't really be put into words but it is amazing.
I hope that your positive experiences will encourage people to consider the positive side of organ donation and discuss it with their families.

I understand some people not wanting to donate and that is their choice but I don't understand how an intelligent adult can come onto a forum and say that they won't donate because they don;t understand the process and they need a campaign to explain it to them...... if you google it there is so much information, there are phone numbers, helplines, real life stories of the difference you can make and much more.

It is not selfish not to donate if you have thought it through and have firm beliefs (based on facts, not here say of how doctors will let you die etc) BUT it is selfish to leave that decision to your next of kin at what will be an already testing time.

I also find the blasé comments such as 'I wouldn't accept an organ' silly, if you have never been through it or known someone who has, you actually have no idea what lengths you would go to, no matter what you think now.

[greeningthedesert]

My FIL received a kidney transplant in 2000. It truly was the most amazing gift. It meant my kids got to meet and love their utterly wonderful grandfather, it meant he got to experience being a grandfather and that we were able to enjoy his company and wisdom for another 13 years (sadly he died of an unrelated illness 2 years ago, but he did reach 83 and continued to work and swim until the day before he died). Every year he wrote to the transplant team and I like to imagine they updated the donor's family with how much their generosity had meant (I have no idea if this is possible).

From the other side, a friends' 20 year old daughter died suddenly a couple of years ago and the family donated all that they could. I have seen how much it has helped them in their grieving to know that so many people have been helped and continue to be helped. Obviously it doesn't take away the pain, but it definitely adds something positive.

[PtolemysNeedle]

I didn't say I needed a campaign, I said I think there should be one so that people are making informed choices, either in or out.

There has to be a reason why so many relatives refuse to carry out their loved ones wishes when they know what those wishes were, and I don't believe they would have taken the decision to refuse lightly. It stands to reason that they weren't prepared for what would actually happen if they agreed to let their loved one donate, and that it may well have put some people off.

[ApplesTheHare]

Sorry slightly off topic but does anybody know if you can be an organ donor if you've had a blood transplant? I know you can't give blood...

[LibrariesGaveUsPower]

Apples - as far as I know no, it isn't automatically prevented. Though health issues that were the underlying reason for the transfusion might.

[ZadokTheBeast]

Just another thought to throw in - if the argument for removing relatives' power of veto is based on the idea that, as a pp suggested, the individual makes their decision after considered thought whereas the bereaved relative will be in a highly distressed state and expected to make an on-the-spot decision:
How do we deal with cases where there might be questions about the individual's capacity to make that decision to register for donation? bearing in mind that these are time-sensitive decisions, what happens if the relatives say that the deceased didn't understand what he/she was signing? Who decides? What if the person signed up at 15 and has subsequently told their family they don't want to donate, but never got round to de-registering? There are so many possible scenarios where questions could arise, and there is no time to examine each individual case legally. So the decision has to be made somewhere, and for the reasons outlined already, that decision can't rest with the medical staff. It would put them in too vulnerable a position.

[LibrariesGaveUsPower]

Mental capacity is always a thorny issue. I don't think it's a reason to discount the idea.

As for the rest, it couldn't be beyond the wit of man to create a system where your binding decision lapsed every 5 years and had to be renewed. Given that your driving license already allows you to state your preferences that would sweep up a lot of people every 10 years.

[ijustwanttobeme]

Donor card carrier since I was about 17, so 30+ years ago plus signed up to donate whole body for research a few years ago.

DDad had signed up for body donation at the same time as me, but he died day before the Easter weekend last year, so they could not take him. He was too old for organ donation.

All my family know if my wishes and I hope that they do not override them.

I think organ donation needs to be publicised more widely, to get it into the consciousness of the general public. Show the people whose lives have been saved by the selflessness of others. It'd make people think surely.

IABU here, but have to admit I would have a twinge of judgey pants hoikiness is if a liver was given to an alcoholic fir instance and that person carried on drinking and 'wasted' their second chance. Like the late George Best.

[paulapompom]

I have learned something - I thought if you were on the register that was that, I didn't know it could be overridden by family. Me and my daughters have agreed we will donate organs, and are all on the register, I thought this took away all the stress of relatives having to be asked. Having been with df and dm when they passed away I see the body as just like a costume.

[Pseudonym99]

Because a decision anyone living in Wales makes is also binding in England, residents in England are also now able to register a decision to opt out. So if you are in England and you do not want to donate your organs, you can register that decision now, as the same register has to be in operation in both England and Wales.

You are also supposed to be able to register the details of somebody to make the decision on your behalf should you lack the capacity (i.e. are dead) to make that decision yourself, if you would rather leave that decision to your next of kin.

Legally, a relative cannot override somebody's decision to be an organ donor, although in practice no healthcare staff are going to against a relative's refusal.

[LineRunner]

My family knows that I wish to be an organ / tissue donor. I'm not going to need it, am I?

I'm wondering, if it's written into a will, it can't be contested, can it?

[Pseudonym99]

There's no point putting a decision about donation in a Will, as by the time the Will is read, it would be too late.

[LineRunner]

I mean, it would protect the medical staff and allow them to carry out my wishes.

[LineRunner]

It just infuriates me that that a nebulous 'next of kin' could stop a procedure that I have signed up to, which would save someone's life.

[ApplesTheHare]

Thanks Libraries!