To opt-out of organ donation

[Jamiek80]

I am currently on the organ donor list however if the government make it opt out instead of opt in I will choose to opt out. I have a few reasons firstly though I’m on the register I actually have no clue what is involved, What can be taken, how much is taken, what happens to my body and a whole load more questions. Secondly if opt out what will happen can they just take everything I mean it’s possible to transplant a head these days so why not just store whole bodies just in case? Thirdly would the government make it simple to opt-out? Finally if you start opt out technically the government owns your body post death at what point do they decide they can take your organs while you’re still alive? I’m not against organ donation as I said I’m on the register but perhaps a better approach would be more available information, I wouldn’t even know how to re-register these days!

Another matter is that we are having fewer deaths of younger people in accidents which would previously have permitted organs to be donated as a result of that much bemoaned health and safety culture which has proliferated since the 1970s. Plus doctors have got better at keeping people alive - both those requiring an organ and those who may have died and been able to provide one.

So my mum spent a few hours in a side hospital room after my gran died. My mum supports organ donation, but was grief stricken and desperate to spend those last few hours with her mum - she died young. And most people suitable to donate organs do die younger. She would not have been able to spend that time with her if her mum's organs had been donated.

If your child died, are you positive you would be okay with them whisking the body away for donor organ transplants and not getting to spend time with your child? For some parents being able to hold their child without all the machines being wired into them, is very important. They would be denied that.

I support organ donation. But I suspect many people on this thread have not thought through the practical implications.

I've already donated my colon to medical science, and I hope by doing do it will help other suffers of UC so they don't have to lose theirs

Having almost died a few times and having to have some major surgeries I have considered what my wishes are to be should I luck out and my family know them.

Anything that can be of use should be taken, then the rest should go for a direct cremation. Should my friends and family wish to gather to mark my passing, rather than looking at a coffin, they will watch Cat Balou where singing will be mandatory! But if they don't, I won't care because I'll be dead!

It is of course anyone's right to opt out, but if you would accept an organ, I think it is repugnant to refuse to donate.

Is it? How far do you take this?

Do alcoholics get a liver? Do smokers get lungs? Overweight people with severe type 2 diabetes and kidney damage, do they get your kidneys? How about those who have never had a job or contributed any NI?

What you are suggesting is that we need a separate Register of Worthiness as well as the donor register to make sure that only the worthy receive organs.

This Is bizarre...
Martha from next door isn't going to be strolling around with your exact face when you die.

I can't tell if this is serious. Why do you think the government are going to keep your body if you opt in? Where have you heard this nonsense from? Nobody will keep hold of your body unless you donate it for medical research.

Only as bizarre as imagining that putting people on a register is going to increase the number of organs available. The organs are not available. Those people are still alive.

"What you are suggesting is that we need a separate Register of Worthiness as well as the donor register to make sure that only the worthy receive organs"

Nope. Just those who haven't opted out. Could be as unworthy as hell, but still part of the "virtuous circle"

Only as bizarre as imagining that putting people on a register is going to increase the number of organs available. The organs are not available. Those people are still alive.
But you increase the likelihood that the next person to die will be a donor.

Can they use your parts for medical research? not sure how I would feel about that.
I will opt out if need be as I don't like the idea of my body parts living in another human but that's partly down to religious beliefs as well.

user1490465531 what is your views kb receiving organs foe you or a loved one?

That's absolutely bonkers, BR, and a step towards the sort of society I would not wish to be a part of.

Why not also do it with blood donations? Not donated your 4 pints this year and were able to do so? No blood for you then. What's that, "too busy" you say. Well, that's no kind of excuse is it.

But you increase the likelihood that the next person to die will be a donor

Not if loads of people opt out.

I have no moral objection to opting out. But I thought that where it has been tried it does not increase the number of donors?

Not if loads of people opt out. but that wasbt your point. You said adding people to a list didn't increase availability. I said it increases the chance of availability.

People oopting out siggeats an active choice whereas many people just don't bother opting in but would be happy to donate

I don't see what difference it makes though if relatives have the final say. You may as well not have a register at all and just ask the next of kin.

I read some research that was saying a key issue is Drs and nurses being reluctant to ask relatives about organ donation. You can see why when a relative is grief stricken it is a difficult issue to raise.

Presumably you can't donate an organ if you die at home?

What happens if they have "too many organs"? It will never happen. Deaths where organs can be recovered are very rare in the grand scheme of things, and the number of people requiring a donation is high.

What's more likely is that they can't find anyone who's an adequate match and then they wouldn't take your organs. Organs must be transplanted in a very short period of time, they can't just take and store them.

And even if you donated every single organ there's still plenty to bury or cremate.

At least if you carry a donor card / have opted out your NOK has an idea how you feel about it. Too many people are squeamish about talking about what happens when they die

Im currently on the register and have explained to my family that I would like them to agree to donate my organs if possible.

I'd happily opt out however if such a system came in to existence, not because of the evil state but because of the notion of consent. With an opt out system, how would family members ever known whether I wanted to donate my organs or whether i simply hadnt gotten round to opting out ? Do they consent knowing there is a chance its not what I wanted ? With an opt in system, they can make a decision knowing that what my wishes are.

in addition, I'll be dead. i couldn't care less what happens to me but I care that my next of kin are able to cope and to make the decisions they need to make to carry on. i would hope they would donate but won't judge them if they were unable to agree this.

Opting out does not mean not donating. Given that it will always be a next of kin choice, actively opting in is a way for them to have unrefuted evidence of my wishes. I will explain that I am opting out but still wish for them to make a decision. By talking to family and by opting in, I make my views clear with active consent.

Perhaps the judgement should be reserved for those who simply havent bothered to opt in rather than those who opt out for valid and principled reasons. Should those who have not opted in be refused an organ ?

I'm not able to donate, as an organ from me would make someone ill,
But I wouldn't donate under an opt out system anyway, I actually find it quite creepy and unethical to have an opt out system. I'll never be in favour of that.
Someone with reduced capacity, elderly, can't speak English very well, doesn't go out much etc, isn't aware of the changes (for example my mum wasn't until it had already been in place, in Wales, for a few months I was the one to point in out even.)
I'm aware that thus far the next of kins word takes precedence regardless of the system time but I think that may change at some point soon as what's the point of an opt out system if someone else can opt them out at the time anyway...?
I find it all very creepy.
Send leaflets and letters out by all means,
Put on tv adverts, have people handing out flyers in town squares... sure. But presuming someone's decision about their own body? Nah. Can't go in for that....

I read this which has always stuck with me. And the photo

"And don't call this my deathbed. Let it be called the bed of life, and let my body be taken from it to help others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's face or love in the eyes of a woman.
Give my heart to a person whose own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain.
Give my blood to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that he might live to see his grandchildren play.
Give my kidneys to the one who depends on a machine to exist from week to week.
Take my bones, every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain.
Take my cells, if necessary, and let them grow so that, someday a speechless boy will shout at the crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weakness and all prejudice against my fellow man.
Give my sins to the devil. Give my soul to God. If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or word to someone who needs you. If you do all I have asked, I will live forever"

That will certainly stick with me as mawkish nonsense.

I don't think the if you wouldn't give one you shouldn't receive. That's silly. A lot of people simply don't consider it until they need to, usually when it happens to them.

I'm opt in, my son however isn't. I can't bring myself to put him on the list. If heaven forbid anything happened to him the thought of him being distributed among the people horrifies me to no extent.

It's like being a fire fighter, nurse, police man, or prison officer, I wouldn't want to do there jobs but have great respect for those who do. Does that mean I shouldn't be allowed to access this services because I couldn't do it myself.

Thanks for the reminder. I have updated my registration as an organ donor.

I don't care what they need and if the circumstances of my death are such that I am suitable, take it.

Unfortunately, as I had a blood transfusion which saved my life, I can't donate blood. But if I can do something at the end of my life, that's a real result.