to ask your thoughts on organ denation

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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?

Absolutely, I would!

No doubt for the family it’s a difficult decision to make at a horrible time, and in some ways it might be better to take the decision out of their hands but that’s why it’s so important to have the conversation beforehand.

I am a donor but find it easy to see why people don’t want to be- and they have the right to decide to do what they want with their own organs, which after all, belong to them.

I have never put myself on the organ donation register for one reason- my mother is a nurse and worked with patients who would be eligible for organ donation- A&E.

She has always said that when she was doing that, that the doctors if knowing that a patient was an organ donor would...try less hard to save that patient and administer medication that could affect their organs. Point simply put, where is no hope, the doctors would try to save the organs as the patients' fate was inevitable but where the patient had not opted for organ donation, they would take more 'risks' in treatment.

She was very adamant about this, but fully believes in organ donation. She simply said 'dont sign anything because they wont try as hard'.

Me? Have whatever you can take. All of my next of kin and contacts know that should (god forbid) the situation arise that I will give you every bit of me that can be used. I may not have signed a form but everyone knows what my wishes are.

Organ donation or medical science, I don't need any of it when I'm gone so hopefully it would benefit someone else

I think organ donation is a good thing, I’d love to help someone else live or have a better quality of life if I die.

@Woodman03 that must have been really awful.

My boyfriend was killed in an accident when I was young. One thing that really helped us all was he carried a donor card and he donated to a teenage boy. His mum was so proud of this. She got a letter from the family which meant great deal to her.

If your willing to accept an organ then you should be willing to donate ! End of

We donated my DM's when she died young and we got letters from the recipients thanking us - it made a huge difference knowing that parts of her were still here helping others. That was what she lived for.

I wish we were still in touch to know how they're getting on really.

She died during surgery that was previously 99.9% success rate and they kept her on life support because she was a donor, so there was never a question in my mind that everything would be donated. Admittedly I did think about the reality of that once we'd said our goodbyes but I like to think she would've been treated with respect by those who sorted the practical stuff out because they understand how valuable a donation like that is.

I have worked as part of the transplant team and I see the good organ donation does . Yes Iv retrieved organs from patients who have passed but Iv seen the good their organs have brought to families

My thoughts?
My lovely son wouldn't be enjoying his life now without his transplant.

How bloody brave and amazing were the family of his donor.

How great it is that a young persons tragic death gave life to many others.

One of the more unpleasant things XH said was that it didn't matter whether I signed up to donate organs or not, he would refuse permission for them to be used. One of the first things I did after divorcing him was to sign up. It's also in my Will and the DC have been informed of my wishes. I asked them to look upon it as some of me living on (in a not-creepy way).

OP, if I were in such a bad state that they were planning what to do with the body already, I'm not sure I'd want them to work that hard to keep me alive. We've all got to go some time.

the hospital might not try their best to save you of they need your organs so that kind of put me off

Utter bollocks. Assisted by the fact that the person needing an organ and the person donating an organ will have different medical teams. So there is no chance of even a subconscious want to save the other person. You are safe.

They are welcome to any and all from me. Although the older I get, the less they'll want!

Don’t think I’ll need it all when I’m dead.

Of course I'd donate my organs once I'm dead (assuming anyone can use them!) Why wouldn't I?

They can have anything they want once I'm dead. I'm on the register. I have quite a complex medical history so don't know whether they will be useful, otherwise go for it. My loved ones know. If you live in England, Scotland or NI make sure to talk to your relatives because they do not have assumed consent.

www.organdonation.nhs.uk

www.organdonationscotland.org

organdonationni.info/where-are-we-now

In Wales there is opt out, but you can also actively sign up (or out) (and of course talk to relatives.

organdonationwales.org/?lang=en

I don't get this not trying so hard to save donors. You can carry any card you like, but your next of kin can overrule it and the donor management people know this.

“If your willing to accept an organ then you should be willing to donate ! End of”

I hate this simplistic and unkind attitude. I think it’s easy to think like this because most people will not have anything worth donating when they die and the vast vast majority will never need a transplant, so it means people don’t Truly Engage in the debate but it’s so unlikely to affect them either way.

Being dismissive and rude about non Donors doesn’t help anyone, but most of all, it doesn’t help awareness or education and just puts people off engaging at all.

I am such a strong advocate for organ donation. I registered as a teenager and have made sure my family know that's what I'd like to happen after I die. To me, it just seems such a waste to be cremated/buried with your organs when they could save someone else's life!

I've ticked everything too, including corneas. I certainly won't be needing them.

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

I donated my son's organs. They tried so hard, and were so upset there was nothing that could be done.

The whole process was obviously awful, but he, and I, were treated with total respect throughout.

I wasn't able to donate my daughter's organs when she died.

It didn't upset me more that my son didn't have his organs when he was cremated. I was equally devastated at both of their funerals. I also didn't feel any sense of happiness that other people were able to live due to his donation though. I was selfish throughout really.

I felt that if my kids could have been saved then I would have jumped at anything so it was only fair to give others a chance that we weren't fortunate enough to have.

I wouldn't support an opt in system or any system that forced people to give if they would receive. It's a gift, not something that should be forced.

I’m leaving it up to those who I will leave behind. It won’t affect me as I will be dead but it will affect them, if they will take peace in parts of me living on and helping others great if they couldn’t bear the thought of me being harvested and switched off not surrounded by them then that’s fine by me as well.

They can take anything and everything they can from me.

Yep, I would donate every part of me that can be used again. It scares me to think of something happening to my children and there being no donor.

@Queenoftheblitz it's a bit rich of you to tell others to do their research before signing up when you've linked to a website so completely lacking in credibility. Apart from the obvious hyperbole and misinformation of that site itself, here is what 30 seconds of googling taught me about its author:

1. He quoted his own work as if it was authored by another to lend his theory credibility - huge red flag in academic studies

1. He has previously quoted lifesitenews.com as though it is a credible scientific publication despite it actually being a religious site aimed at spreading its anti-abortion, anti-homosexual, anti-transplant, anti-contraception, anti-stem cell message.

1. His website is full of wildly inaccurate misinformation, including suggesting that it's possible for a human to live without a brain. He is a religious zealot and a quack, whose views are entirely unsupported by medical consensus. He speaks from a position of vast bias, and consistently puts his strong religious beliefs ahead of scientific fact and evidence-based research.

If you don't want to donate your organs that's fine, but don't spread this obviously false misinformation to others in the hope of frightening them out of saving a life.

Yorkie they kept my DM 'alive' for the same reason - they often ask you to witness some of the reflex testing they do to help you understand that there's nothing of the person you love left - it's just a physical shell.

It wasn't a nice thought but the thought of the 8 people she saved and 1 who regained some sight either dying or coping with a life being blind is a lot worse. Us thinking of our own feelings wouldn't have brought my mum back.

Bananas I don't know what your mum's experience was, but this is so untrue. We don't know who is on the organ donor register when they come in. We don't ask unless it's clear that the patient is not going to survive. There is no concept of "trying less hard" so that someone can be a donor.

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.

I'll second this. My Mum passed away earlier this year. Before she died I asked the doctors about donation. They couldn't use any of her organs but said they may be able to use her corneas. I'd pretty much forgotten about this until last week when they wrote to say two women received my Mum's corneas. They were a similar age to my Mum. I don't know anything else about them but I'd like to think having their sight improved/restored will allow them to enjoy time with their children, grandchildren etc.