to ask your thoughts on organ denation

[UnicornShapedCloud]

I have been thinking alot recently about organ donation after watching a programme about it.

I have really mixed feelings about it,

Whats your views on donating your own or your DC organs after death?

100% yes! My children too.

Today was my Mum's funeral. She had been waiting for almost three years for a double lung transplant after an auto immune disease left her with 9% lung capacity. Sadly the call didn't come in time. Organ donation wasn't something I'd really thought about until I was faced with the reality it bit now I'm signed up for everything!

Oh do fuck off ProfSteve - although anyone less like a professor it would be hard to find - different teams treat a&E cases and transplant cases. Nobody would let a patient die to use their organs.

Honestly, the amount of scaremongering and conspiracy theories is scary,.

@LilacClovers god, I'm so sorry. I hope you're as ok as you can be in the circumstances

Sympathy, lilac clovers. I’m so sorry for your loss.

I would never donate. I also wouldn't consent to donating a loved ones organs.

Why, user? Would you accept donated organs? If so...

I’m still not convinced after all those tests brain stem dead is actually dead. I’m sure there is no chance of recovery, however I’m not convinced doctors or scientists know enough about the brain to put my own children though that even if they would never recover from their injuries. I’m less bothered about it being done to me though oddly.

Please do your research before signing up. No anaesthetic when they cut you up.

First of all try linking to some credible scientific site not some crackpot who couldnt scientifically explain a common cold.

Secondly You are dead ffs why would you need anaesthesia?

Do people really believe in drs cutting you up alive and kicking or not treating you so they can 'steal' organs from people 'for the hospital'? They dont have a cupboard full of organs they keep stashed away! There is a tight window between harvesting a suitable organ and putting it in a person who needs it.

Instead of wasting my organs they can have every bit of me they want. No use to me when i am dead.

Profsteve
Maybe sign up for a brain transplant? You sound like yours is defective. How can you possibly spout such ignorant nonsense otherwise?

I meant brain dead. You prob still have something to stop reflexes kicking in while they operate.

Why do I need them if I’m dead?! At least give someone else a chance!

@headstone have you seen brain-stem death testing? I have. More times than I would like to remember. I find the process quite distressing, because although it is done with the utmost care and kindness, it highlights just how much there is no response. Each and every test is so awful to imagine - I wince - and yet it has no impact when it is done to these patients because there is no brain function.

Brain stem death testing video. With real brain-dead person:

echt that video was so sad and yet so fascinating. Thank you for sharing it x

When my DS was in intensive care, there was a young boy (around 6 I think) who had a brain haemorrhage while in the air ambulance.

The hospital who were supposed to take him changed their minds, as he was already technically dead. So they brought him to another which was 200 miles away.

ICU kept his body alive while his family flew in from another country, so they could say goodbye. His family chose to donate his organs and he saved 7 people.

That was several years ago, and I still think of them and their kindness.
We're all organ donors in our family, I can't think of a greater gift to give somebody in need.

@ Headstone - have you ever seen brain stem testing done?? If no you are in no way qualified to comment. There are numerous scans/tests done before brain stem testing takes part. The tests themselves are designed to illicit a response - any person who had brain stem activity would react - they couldn't not react to certain tests, no matter how ill they were. Whenever I have seen the test done, they are done with compassion and respect and by 2 consultants - who perform the tests independently.

Does anyone know if people with chromosome abnormalities can be donors? I’ve been on the register since I was old enough to sign up but recently found out I have a small gene deletion.

It depends what the genetic issue is, but as long as it doesn't affect the function of your organs or increase the likelihood of developing cancer in one of them then I think it would be unlikely to be an issue. Most people probably have some small genetic mutations that they don't know about.

I'm definitely signed up as a donor. I'm also on the stem cell registry, I signed up after my brother died waiting for a transplant. I would love to be a stem cell donor, it would mean that he didn't die for nothing.

Delete Blood Cancer

Thanks hedwig, I must admit I was a bit squeamish about the eyes too. I will pull myself together.

I think if you would accept an organ/blood transfusion/stem cell transfusion you should donate, with the exception of medical reasons of course.

I’ve made sure my family are aware of my wishes, especially after a campaign that’s currently running in Wales about the number of transfusions stopped by family members despite the patient signed up to being an organ donor.

I’m on the bone marrow register as my grandad sadly passed from Leukaemia. I don’t think they would have offered him a transplant due to his age but nevertheless it feels right.

I’ve not seen it done no, nor does it matter if I’m qualified to decide if there is any brain activity. I reserve the right to decide what happens to my children before they are even dead. I wouldnt do it even if there was even the tiniest chance there is some brain function left. If the brain was completely dead already surely the body would have died anyway? It would be for me a betrayal of trust. I have no problem with consenting adults choosing to donate organs, I’m even ok with it being done to my apparent brain dead body if necessary.

If the brain was completely dead already surely the body would have died anyway. Yeah that's why the machines are keeping the vital organs going.

If the brain was completely dead already surely the body would have died anyway?

The body does die following brain death. The heart and lungs can be kept pumping by artificial respirators, but the body will die. Brain death is only diagnostically possible for patients on mechanical ventilation. If a patient's heart and lungs can still operate without mechanical ventilation, they would never be diagnosed as brain dead.

That said, I think every person has the right to decide whether to donate their own organs or the organs of their children while their children lack the capacity to make that decision for themselves.