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?

If you want to donate, donate. If you don’t, dont. It’s a personal decision to make such a large gift and the final call will be truly be made by a) the nature of your death and b) your families wishes.

I don’t believe that those who would not donate should be barred from receiving organs - we thankfully do not live in a country where we determine someone’s level of healthcare by their ‘worthiness’.

I am not on the organ donor register. My body will be donated to medical research.

I’m on the donor list, bone marrow list, give blood. I don’t understand the mentality of those who insist on being buried entire or refuse for religious etc reasons. If you can save a life, why wouldn’t you?

Me and dh are on the register.
Dcs are adults. One is nt so can decide .
Other has lds and severe disability so no they won't.

BananasAreTheSourceOfEvil
I work in the NHS and that is a complete load of rubbish! Honestly I despair of the thought a bloody nurse is going round saying nonsense like that.

Personally I would make organ donation optional but if you sign up to it then relatives should not be able to overrule your decision. Also if you haven't signed up to it then you shouldn't be eligible to have a donation if you ever need one.

So many hypocrites on this issue.

Several years ago when I worked in ICU, shortly after starting a shift the cardiac arrest bleep went off. I sprinted up three flights of stairs and onto the ward, where the nurses directed me to the bed of the patient in question. I still remember how utterly crushed and sick to the stomach I felt when I realised it was the young woman we’d been caring for on ICU, who after weeks of hard work had recovered from being critically ill. She’d had a sudden unexpected deterioration and despite successfully resuscitating her and then emergency brain surgery, she did not recover. When we broke the news to her family, they told us how keen she was to be a donor before we even thought of referring her for donation. I cried for days about it.

The idea that we don’t do everything we can for patients so we can pinch their organs is as absurd as it is offensive. We only find out they’re on the register from the specialist nurses, who are only contacted when recovery has been declared impossible.

I agree with most points @walkingdead however I disagree with shouldn't receive an organ because they won't donate theirs. It is for for tat. What if the person can't donate can they receive?

If I don't donate to mountain rescue can I notnsue their services? If I don't donate to the church can I not visit?

I have carried a donor card for as long as I can remember, and am also registered with the Parkinson’s Brain Bank. I feel very strongly that I want to donate anything that is viable. My family all know this.

I would donate when I’m dead. They can take whatever they want but my DC I don’t think I could, the thought of them being cut open and something removed doesn’t sit right and it would be a no.

Once there an adult or a late teen and can express they want to donate then it would be a yes but while there young I just couldn’t.

Definitely would donate anything anyone wants!

Been waiting over 6 years in this house for an organ. We were told likely to be 2. Hopefully it's because medicine has got so good at saving other people.

Really heartened to see so many positive posts on here!

My brother died suddenly in a car accident aged just 24. My parents knee jerk reaction was 'No, no, no!' To this day I feel like they killed him all over again. They didn't even allow one tiny piece of him to live and that makes me so bloody sad. They literally let everything go. For me it was about letting others live. It was about keeping my brother alive in others. And we didn't.

Are people entirely dead when they take the organs?

I was told recently that I might need corneal transplants. I'm in my 40s and I was suddenly facing going blind. The idea that someone could give a few layers of transparent tissue, not their whole eye, to help me, or someone like me see, is just awe inspiring. As it turns out, the doc was wrong, my corneas are ok for another while. I have opted to donate them, along with the rest of my organs when I die.

I am on the register and my family know my wishes.I would also allow my DDS organs to be used and she is now old enough to agree.I would have done from when she was a baby if needed as small children's organs are in short supply,understandably.

I recently came across, in a hospital, a number of recipients of hearts and lungs. Men and women, young and old, who had quite literally been given a chance at life due to the generosity of individuals and their families, who had had to make difficult decisions in terribly traumatic times. There was also a number of people waiting for organs. All were full of optimism, gratitude and hope and were very inspirational.
I have always been registered as a donor. Having met these recipients I think it should be made compulsory (as in opt out) and the decision taken away from family members. I know that if something happened to my child, I would find it impossible to make a decision but that weeks later I would be regretting not helping someone else live. I therefore think the decision should be made for you (although opt out should be possible by the individual) as you are being asked to make such a decision at the most traumatic time when emotions are too high.

@sprinkles - it wasn’t intentional. I gave as often as was permitted by the guidelines and assumed that as I’m fit, healthy and a good bmi that it would impact me. Turns out I was wrong and will be more cautious in future.

The reason I give so often is because they call me all the time asking me to! Stocks of my blood group are always low; they don’t have enough donors and it can be given to recipients of two different blood groups so it’s a larger percentage of the population. Also, anyone receiving blood generally needs several donations’ worth so you can see how the idea of ‘if it’s a rare group there’s less demand’ doesn’t quite work.

I’ve had two family members need huge transfusions so it’s an issue close to my heart.

wouldn’t* impact me

In the event that I can't be of use as a donor I want to be given to medical science. Med schools always need bodies.

Im not registered but have no objection to my organs being taken or body going to science.
One thing i do worry about is i have never taken care of my body, think drinking, drugs, never eating or eating crap for many many years so would my organs be any good? Would my organs just be false hope so to speak

Ohhhh, this is something I feel so strongly about.

I live in Japan and carry a card (printed out) but I suspect they won't want my organs anyway as I am from the UK (can't donate blood in Japan either, gah!). Have told my DH that he is to OK any donations that are allowed, just in case they decide to allow this or change the rules at some point.

It's a real shame as there is a very severe shortage of organs here due to people's reluctance to donate, and the fact that next of kin have the right to overrule the deceased wishes (which I think is terrible). It has to do with Buddhist traditions.

The result is that every now and again we someone posting on FB saying "Please save Haruka-chan!" and a donations drive to raise the eye-popping sums of money required to send little Haruka over to the United States or some other country to get an organ transplant privately using American organs. I understand that the parents are desperate, but these fundraising attempts never ever seem to be accompanied by any attempt to get Japanese people to donate their own organs or change the rules re donation in Japan. There seems to be a feeling that the Japanese have no responsibility to donate organs, only a right to take them from other countries. It's enough to make you despair.

I've been a registered organ donor since I was a child. When I was 14 I was told I'd need a transplant one day. It happened 15 years later. Nothing major surgically, but after a lot of complications and drugs that tried their best to destroy me, my quality of life is vastly improved. DS has observed all this over the past 5 years and opted to register as a donor at the age of 8.

When we're dead, take what you can use. Far better than burning it up or leaving it to rot.

Ok yup, I realize that the hospital not working hard to save you so that they can have your organs is crazy, I can see that now

I would like to do it and looked more about becoming an donator but it looks like the rules in the state that I live in people have to be over 18 to register so technically I would need to tell my Mom and Dad that I want to be one but its them who would decide in the end BUT i can decide for my child but not for me, thats just crazy

SandandSea there are different answers depending on which donation you are asking about. Legally, and technically, though, the answer is yes, no matter which donation you are talking about. I'll take you through each, to explain further, as it is a bit complicated.

Donation after Circulatory Death (DCD): A patient will donate organs as soon as they have been declared dead (defined by the absence of a central pulse on palpation or heart sounds on auscultation for a period of 5 minutes), by being transferred to theatres. They will be legally dead from the time declared by the doctor who observed them to have no circulation.

Donation after Brain Death: A lengthy and complex set of tests is carried out at the beside, which tests all cranial nerves for signs of reflex responses. There are 12 cranial nerve pairs, and each test intends to stimulate these nerves. The test is carried out by two senior doctors, often observed by others, and if any person sees a response they say so. If no response is seen, the patient is declared brain dead at the conclusion of the tests. The tests are repeated a second time for confirmation, but the time of death is the conclusion of thefirst set of tests. If the patient is going to go on to be a donor, they will remain connected to a ventilator, and treatment will continue, despite being legally dead, so that their organs can be in the best state possible for transplant. They will go through to theatres connected to the ventilator. Legally, technically and for all practical purposes, however, they are dead. They have been proven to have no brain function. Everything that made them who they were has, sadly, gone. They will never wake up. They will never think, decide, choose, question, respond, be happy, sad, angry, cold, hungry, again.

The last donation type is tissue donation. Patients can donate bones, tendons, skin, corneas, etc., and to do that they just have to arrive at the mortuary within a few hours of death. So they are are definitely dead then when they donate, also.

I’ve never thought twice about it. If you would accept an organ, it’s only fair you would also give yours after death. You don’t need it once you’re dead.

They can have anything from me or my DC. In fact, saving lives might just bring me a glimmer of hope in the awful event of a loved one dying.

I'm also on the Anthony Nolan list for donating stem cells and bone marrow while I'm alive (most people under 31 are eligible to join the list and the donation procedure isn't nearly as bad as I thought before researching it).