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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to ask your thoughts on organ denation

433 replies

UnicornShapedCloud · 16/05/2018 20:44

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?

OP posts:
mustbemad17 · 16/05/2018 21:13

Without hesitation they can have what is of use. I have made it very clear to my extended family that if i end up as named NoK & get asked, their organs will be donated too. I have no time for people who say no because i think it's selfish...especially given the majority of them would accept an organ.

Our hospital has a sign up saying thay in 2016 only 6 organ donations occured; this saved 25 lives. I was both shocked & saddened that in an entire year only 6 people gave consent/were suitable

Billben · 16/05/2018 21:13

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

Sorry, but you’ve got to be thick to actually believe this 😀

SharronNeedles · 16/05/2018 21:13

I hate the thought of it, because it would only be a result of something bad.
I am a registered donor purely because I understand the good it does and I would accept a transplant

Cath2907 · 16/05/2018 21:13

You are welcome to my bits when I’m dead. I’ll donate my DDs and DHs stuff also!

Queenoftheblitz · 16/05/2018 21:14

There's plenty of other info out there. It is your right to research it.

Glumglowworm · 16/05/2018 21:15

Dead people don’t need organs. It’s extremely selfish and a terrible waste to bury or burn something that could save several people’s lives.

Honestly, I doubt many of my organs are healthy enough to donate but they’re welcome to open me up to check and take what they need. Because I’ll be dead. So unable to feel anything. And don’t need anaesthetic (what a bizarre suggestion!).

Overrunwithlego · 16/05/2018 21:15

I’m on the registered donor list as is DH. FIL has had a heart transplant, and DB was on the heart transplant list but recovered to the point where he no longer needed a transplant. I suspect at some point that will change though, and he will need one. So that brings things into quite stark reality. Despite that, I find it really hard to think about it with regards to DC (certainly whilst they remain children) , and whilst I am pretty certain I would make the decision to donate their organs, I know I’d have a visceral need to ‘protect their body’, despite objectively knowing that it was no longer required. I’m also aware I might donate them in order to ‘keep them alive’ in some way. I know I would be desperate to meet those who received their organs, which isn’t possible in the uk but is elsewhere - probably a good thing really, as it calls into question the motivation for donating. I know I would be devastated again if the transplant wasn’t successful (and this information is routinely shared with the donor family). But ultimately I wouldn’t hesitate for them to receive an organ, so I hope I would be able to make that decision.

ForalltheSaints · 16/05/2018 21:16

I am in favour of an opt-out system, providing we can find some way of ensuring that people can be sure that they have had the option to opt out.

MissusGeneHunt · 16/05/2018 21:16

They can take whatever is needed once I'm gone. If my DC or DM needed organs, I'd be forever in the donor family's debt.

@queenoftheblitz what on earth was that link??? Scaremongering... Bloody trashy article.

Vangoghsear · 16/05/2018 21:16

Watching the little boy on the heart transplant TV programme that was on the other day was one of the most moving things I have seen in a long time - when he thanked the anonymous family who had agreed to donate. Even as a young child he recognised the sadness of the donor family, and the success of his transplant was wonderful to see.

Original poster
UnicornShapedCloud · 16/05/2018 21:16

I had never ever thought about organ donation to I watched that programme and I thought its a good idea

I brought the subject up with my class mates in college and one of them told me that the hospital might not try their best to save you of they need your organs so that kind of put me off Sad

OP posts:
bbc3ismyworld · 16/05/2018 21:17

Queenoftheblitz seriously? If you believe that, then like you make me despair for the human race. Angry

BlueSuffragette · 16/05/2018 21:18

They can have anything of mine when i'm gone. It will be no use to me.

cjferg · 16/05/2018 21:18

Had an auntie who had 3 kidney transplants in her life and so have always know since I was a kid that I would donate.

If i'm dead I don't need organs.

CaliforniaDream · 16/05/2018 21:18

I can think of no better use for any body, once its owner has passed, than to give another person the chance of a few more years of life. When we die our bodies decay, but instead of being wasted they can save others. I think that's incredible.

Anasnake · 16/05/2018 21:18

The organ go to people on the waiting list who are matches which could be anywhere in the country, not kept at the same hospital.

YorkieDorkie · 16/05/2018 21:18

I was completely for it until my mum (a nurse) told me about a time during her early career that she had to keep a woman "alive" for two hours manually so her organs could be taken. She said it was one of the most undignified and heartbreaking moments of her career.

I'd never thought about that. I still know that I'd want to donate my organs but I'd hate to think of someone bashing away at my poor mum to keep her going just long enough to take what they need.

It's all about the greater good in the end.

bbc3ismyworld · 16/05/2018 21:19

Unicorn that's a theory, but do you really believe there is any truth in it?

Anasnake · 16/05/2018 21:19

This explains the process
m.youtube.com/watch?v=HjLK8Q_t1Wk

misdee · 16/05/2018 21:20

My husband is here thanks to a heart transplant.
Our younger children are also here due to that transplant.

CaliforniaDream · 16/05/2018 21:20

I brought the subject up with my class mates in college and one of them told me that the hospital might not try their best to save you of they need your organs so that kind of put me of

Please don't be idiotic. Even if you had no faith in the humanity and ethics of the medical profession, why would they allow one patient to die in order to save another? Where is the logic in that?

AnnaMagnani · 16/05/2018 21:21

Can I put in a plug for tissue donation?

Most people will never be in a situation where they are able to donate their organs but almost everyone will die a death where they are able to donate their corneas - there are a few exceptions who are not able to donate but even people dying from most forms of cancer are able to donate their corneas.

Nationally there is a shortage of cornea donations every year - not everyone who needs a corneal transplant is able to have one.

Imagine being able to give someone the gift of sight after you have gone.

Please tell your family if you are happy to donate your corneas - all it takes is a phone call to the centre after you have died to arrange it.

www.organdonation.nhs.uk/about-donation/what-can-i-donate/cornea/

wheezing · 16/05/2018 21:22

Of course. Most of us won’t be donors because we’ll die too old or for whatever other reason our organs won’t be usable, but if anyone does want whatever bit of me after I’m dead they can have it.

mummeeee · 16/05/2018 21:22

Unicorn Even if that were true, it's not the hospital that needs the organs it's someone else's mum, dad, brother, sister or child. The hospital have no interest in seeing one patient die to save the life of another.

A good friend of mine, an ex intensive care nurse works in the transplant team at my local hospital and I'm so glad she does. I would trust her with my life.

Billben · 16/05/2018 21:22

I am buoyed up by all the people on this thread who support donation. It really is a gift of life. Thank you on behalf of our family who know we will likely be the ones waiting one day.

😥

I have a medical condition which means frequent ops and general anaesthetics. My parting words to my DH are the same EVERY time: If I don’t make it off the table, look after the girls and don’t you dare get emotional and contest my organs being donated. It’s a running joke now actually, as I’ve said it so often😀

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