Opting out of organ donation

[ringme]

So the law has changed and this spring the NHS will consider you to be an organ donor automatically if you don’t opt out. I haven’t had a chance to really consider this all yet, WIBU to opt out at this stage until I have time to think about it or is that a selfish move given that 408 people died last year waiting for a donor?

What will you be doing?

www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/faq/what-is-the-opt-out-system

I’ve no idea @Biancadelrioisback

It just crossed my mind fleetingly.

@gerbo - I have bequeathed my body to my local University, but they do stipulate that if you die further than 50 miles away they may not be able to take you. You might want to check with the School.

Are people objecting to having to opt out because it's "a bit presumptuous" aware that hundreds of people die every year waiting for an organ transplant? This new system wasn't devised to piss you off, it was born out of necessity because not enough people were signing up to be organ donors but the vast majority would happily accept a donated organ for themselves. Drastic situations call for drastic measures. If you're genuinely willing to opt out of donating your organs, despite knowing that doing so could save lives, just to make a point then that just proves that the new system is needed because clearly people cannot be relied upon to do the right thing.

Ding pen should say “don’t own”. As in the state don’t own your body if you don’t opt out.

My brothers organs were donated. We had to say our goodbyes while he was still on life support. Then he was brought for “surgery “ as it was described.

Yep, very similar experience with DM. It prolongs the whole process as DM was basically kept alive (as she wasn't brain dead) for 18 hours while they found recipients/ checked everything/ got transplant nurses in etc.

It was the worst 18 hours of my life. I'm on the register, will donate but ultimately it's the individuals/ family decision imo and I wouldn't judge anyone for not being able to go through that. They don't even know at the start if the organs will be high quality enough to transplant.

Yanbu at all to think about if carefully OP.

This is for England by the way. We've had this in Wales for a while.

This explains the process:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=HjLK8Q_t1Wk

Those saying you have opted out, or intend to opt out - would you be willing to accept an organ, either on your own, or a family member's behalf? If yes, how can you justify not being willing to donate your own?

Those objecting on principle as you object to the automatic opt-in - I could see this being a justifiable position if it was not possible to opt-out or if next-of-kin permission was not still required in practice. Anyone who has a strong opinion can opt-out. They would presumably also have spoken to family about it. If they haven't registered their objection, they obviously don't feel particularly strongly about it so why not donate? Objecting on this particular principle is simply being bloody-minded.

I think opting out is an unbelievably selfish position to take, particularly if you would take an organ if you needed one.

Binting- thanks! I'm aware of this- I'm signed up with Cambridge (neatest) and am also signing up with Manchester. I called them and they said it would be doable but down to my dh to transport me north if he chooses that I should go 'home' to Manc. I'm hoping he will stump up to move me! But my back up university is Cambridge.

So either way it'll work out. But thanks for that. Might inspire others to consider it.

I agree with the opt out rule & think it should be binding so that the individual’s wishes are always honoured.

I opted in as soon as I was old enough. (I have a vague recollection of doing it when I opened a bank account?)

Once I'm dead 'they' can do whatever they like with my body. I won't need it. I quite like the idea of donating anything that's still useful to someone who needs it and the rest going to science to study whatever.

Nearest, not neatest!

So you're actively making the decision to allow other people who could have lived to die as a direct result of your actions, because you 'dislike the presumption'?

No one will be dying as a direct result of my actions. Don't be so dramatic.

Medical ethics is about a lot more than number of lives saved at any cost.

I've been opted in since I was 18.
Take what you like.
I don't know if I could accept an organ though (personal choice which may or may not change if I am ever unfortunate enough to be in that situation, which I hope would be never).

I've been on the register for years, but wish there was a box to tick so that my family couldn't override my wishes - it annoys me that they would get the final say so. It's my body and I'd like the final decision to be mine.

www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/faq/what-is-the-opt-out-system/

I think it's really unfortunate that some people haven't read up about the changes that are taking place before spreading misinformation about such an important and emotive topic.

The change to an "opt-out" system doesn't apply to children. Even under the new system all donors families will retain the ability to refuse a donation.

If you were going to die and an you would accept an organ donation to save your life then you should stay in

I think opting out is an unbelievably selfish position to take, particularly if you would take an organ if you needed one.

Agree 100% and I think that opting out should mean opting out 'in both directions' - giving and receiving.

No, I wouldn't accept an organ donation.

I don't like the State's assumption that I WILL give my organs. They can fuck off.

So you'll opt out as a "fuck you" to "the state"? Even though it's actually sick people who desperately need an organ transplant you'll be fucking over. That's up to your conscience though I suppose.

Also your point doesn't even make sense. They're not assuming you WILL give your organs. They're assuming that if you don't want to give them you can take a couple of minutes out of your life to opt out.

@whyamidoingthis our NHS is based on who is in greatest need, not who is the most moral (however you define that).

The person who is in greatest medical need should get the organ, regardless of whether they're on the register themselves.

We do not live in a country where we deny medical care to people based on the fact we don't agree with their choices.

@formerbabe No one will be dying as a direct result of my actions. Don't be so dramatic.

Do you not understand the most basic concept of organ donation? Donated organs save people's lives. If you choose to opt out then you are actively choosing to let someone die because you think the law is 'presumptuous'.

Why not own that instead of trying to cover it up with insults and misinformation?

No, I wouldn't accept an organ donation.

Being terminally ill might change your mind...

If anyone I knew told me theyd had decided to op out I'd lose loads of respect for them

Presumed consent is an oxymoron. If it's presumed, it isn't consent.
As a concept, introduced in law, it's very worrying.
Trying to think of another scenario where a person might say "but I didn't consent, at all" and the law saying "don't care, you never said no either, so we took your silence to mean yes".
In a rape scenario feminists have argued for years that lack of a "no' does not equal a 'yes'.
I don't want to see any precedent of 'presumed consent' entering our legal system in relation to bodily autonomy, ever. So the development disturbs me.

I was one of the minority who was on the opt-in register; statistically it is likely that most of the people lecturing you OP, will be doing so from the dubious position of never having bothered to register themselves whilst the register was opt-in. I'm not sure someone who, even now, ISN'T registered whilst explicit consent is still required, has the moral high ground to lecture you when a dodgy principle of the state owning rights to your body without your actual explicit consent being needed is introduced.

I am still a willing organ donor. But I am no longer on the register because I will not passively support any 'presumed consent' system.

If I die my next of kin are aware of my willing donor status. In effect, as long as the donation service treat my body and rights as a person with respect, and seek to ask my next of kin, they will still have my organs.
It's a great shame they no longer have the absolute certainty that I have offered, of my own free will to be a donor. My presence on the register once was indisputable evidence of my wishes. Now the register is no longer is a record of those people motivated and certain of their own consent.