I’ve withdrawn from organ donation register

[Purpledogcollar]

I give blood and have always been very pro organ donation.

Sadly I have just withdrawn as protest against reproductive organ donation. I can’t support it and am very conflicted as would like to donate other organs.

What are your views and is it a hasty decision (although not sure I would change my mind).

You know what, I opted out of them taking my eyes (like another poster upthread, owing to general ick) but on reflection it's a bit silly, and now I think I'll opt back in. Hopefully it will at least partially offset the OP's idiocy.

Cheers, OP!

Yep

I think it takes a particular level of selfishness not to donate life saving organs after your death.

If you don’t want to donate your womb, opt out of it and let your loved ones know. But don’t deny people life saving organ transplants because you want to make a point.

Yes there is. It appears as you go through the process of registering. Several people on this thread have posted screenshots of the page.

YANBU OP.

I opted out when presumed consent came in. My body is neither the property of the state nor a collection of spare parts.

I have ethical objections to womb transplants. Does anyone care what happens to the child born from a donor womb? It's experimental, at best.

I’ve come back this morning to a lot of posts and haven’t read most of them yet.

From a couple I have read there seems to be a lot of anger directed at me and that’s up to the poster.

I feel I need to completely understand the process of donation going forward so I will do more research. I would like an option to opt out of reproductive organ donation even if we at not at that stage yet.

I know that I will be dead and won’t care but the thought of a woman or man carrying a baby in the same womb I have disturbs me. I couldn’t care less about my other organs/blood.

I think it is important to have these discussions and learn how other people view topics.

I shall now find some time to go and read all your replies, thanks all.

From the conversations I've been involved with its not a shopping list that they go down with the relatives. They ask if the individual has ever had any thoughts or feelings with regards to organ donation to start the convo. Obviously helps if already on the organ donor register as sooooo many family's just don't have these conversations and relatives have no idea on an individuals wishes

If a relative said they wouldn't want xyz that would obviously be respected.

Unfortunately due to the circumstances in which an individual has to pass away there's normally v few organs able to be considered in your average age icu patient that passes away

The other thing is you can write an extensive explanation if has specific wishes in an advanced directive (I think everyone should have one but that's a whole another topic

“opting out of organ donation over something that does not exist in the current system, if it ever will at all”
That’s the problem isn’t it? A lot of people are concerned about reproductive organ/tissue donations becoming routine and them not having the choice to opt out. Yes that isn’t the case at the moment but trust in the “systems” is a major factor here.
Why not have the option now to opt out of these donations or return to an opt in system?

Many are happy to donate other organs and tissues, so instead of jeopardising the whole process why not make these simple changes?
That would be a lot more effective than insulting other people’s genuinely held beliefs

Can you link the option where I can opt out of uterus donation specifically please.

I took the opportunity to remove myself from the list in the run up to Opt In becoming the default. I object to the presumption, but I've always been personally uncomfortable with the ethics of transplant in any case, so it was something I'd been mulling over for a while. I also have an Advance Directive stating that under no circumstances do I consent to transplant or transfusion myself, but whether doctors will actually pay any heed to that remains to be seen. If I was conscious I'd point it out to them, but there is always the scenario whereby I'm transfused while being unconscious. Closest friends know about my wishes though, so I'd hope they'd be decent enough to draw attention to it as well.

Such cases are truly awful but definitely not the norm. I anaesthetise for organ donation, the team treat them no different to their own family member (I don't want to say more than an alive patient but there's a massive degree of respect and gratefulness, many actually thank the indiviudal), the nurses are super caring when tending to the body afterwards and really look after the families.

In the instance of heart beating donation (the less common one, where support is withdrawn and the individual passes away "normally" the icu nurse and organ donation nurse sit with the family and the patient until the very end and manage any symptoms they may have before they pass. It's all as peaceful as we can make it. Radio or music in the anaesthetic room family all allowed in etc

Are people knee jerk removing themselves from the register for fear of their reproductive organs being given to men?

Put a womb in a man all you like, they're still not going to be able to get pregnant. You can stick a heating element on a chair, it doesn't make it a fucking kettle 🙄 womb or no womb, a man will never have the ability to grow a placenta, the hormones needed to support a pregnancy etc.

Regardless of the pressure from trans groups, official NHS donor registered organs are never going to be wasted on a totally pointless procedure. The organisation may be upside-down, but it's not completely fucking daft just yet. Removing yourself from the register is just taking the opportunity of your organs away from people who would be amazingly grateful for them to save their lives, for a totally misguided reason.

These are the possible organs for donations, perhaps just edit this?

Also, people getting precious about ‘I opted out as soon as I realised it was an automatic opt in unless I opted out’.

I wonder if these same people would refuse to take a life saving organ donation themselves based on ethical grounds? If you would happily take a donation for you/family member if you needed it, how can you possibly opt out yourself?

I would like my family to decide as I don't know what circumstances they might be facing this in. Ultimately, they are likely to say yes, but I want them to have the control in case there are circumstances that are too distressing.
There's no tickbox for yes in principle, but please confer with my family.

When we donated my mothers organs it absolutely was a shopping list that the nurse went through with us.

OP yanbu. So many people throw insults round over this, I doubt they have much idea about the actual process. My dad has said after if my mother had known what it would put me and my brother through he doubts she would have been so keen. It’s an individual choice and one that needs to be thought through. The ones who make jokes about being stuffed into sofas etc I am always very 🙄 about. The problem is so few people die in circumstances that allow it only a small proportion of people have direct experience if it.

That said I’m on the list and will be staying on it, personally. But I certainly won’t be donating my womb if that becomes a thing.

You can't opt out of something you're not bloody opted in to.

I'm not sure how people aren't getting this. You can no more opt out of being a uterus donor than you can opt out of having gills installed.

Thank you so much for putting this so eloquently. I’ve been considering taking myself off the register for this reason - not because I specifically fear my uterus being used for experimental gratification of a male’s fetish, but because the fact that it’s even being talked about has fatally undermined my already shaky trust in the system and underlined the lack of respect for women and our bodies that is endemic in the healthcare system.

I hadn’t realised organ donation had changed to automatically enrolled!!

I’ve opted out of the scheme. Thanks for the heads up.

It's not going to be an issue within the useful life of my uterus (plus it is scarred from an EMCS), but I am happy to give an offering at the end of my life that could save other lives or avoid disability e.g. the corneas preventing blindness and always had opted in.

In this experimental case, I understand that it was a sister's uterus involved. I have no objection to that. In the same way that I don't object to a living person choosing to donate a kidney to someone they love. That's very different to people being exploited as a resource.

I do object to a general societal view of women being used and in many societies, abused for breeding/ population policies. While infertility is deeply distressing, it is not life-limiting.
There are societies where unborn fetuses are cared for more than the health, wellbeing and dignity of their mothers, or even the children that they will shortly become. Women have been forcibly coerced into producing many or few children to meet the demands of their political or religious leaders in many societies. In many countries, including supposedly developed ones, women are denied abortions that can prevent death, difficult lifetimes of ill-health/ severe disability that are poorly supported by healthcare systems, or forced to bear the offspring of their abusers and rapists.
Women's rights to manage their reproductive health is fragile and must not be taken for granted.

Transplanting reproductive organs would be risky in terms of organ rejection, then risky again in terms of being able to function to create healthy babies. A transplant of reproductive organs is certainly no quick fix anyway.

I will remain on the organ donation register.
If it ever becomes a widespread issue, then my tired, old uterus can go to the grave with me anyway, and I will opt out of donating reproductive organs even though it's probably a moot point.

Regardless if you opt in or not it’s always up to families. Even if you opt in for everything the specialist nurse speaks with your next of kin. They can say no if they feel that’s the right decision. Even if you’ve expressed in life you want to donate everything.
however. If you opt out your family will unlikely be spoken to.

Many families feel the same. I am sorry it feels like a shopping list. The human tissue act means nurses have to be very specific but it’s not a nice process, I understand that.
you are an incredible family for saying yes. And for also still wanting to donate yourself. I hope the fact your mum saved the lives of other and the impact it had on their families gives you some comfort. Thinking of you xx

You can't opt or because you're not off in in the first place

"Non-routine transplants*
The current system for organ donation in England does not cover rare or novel transplants such as limb, face or uterus donation.This kind of transplant is not routine andwould require specific agreement from your family."

.https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/helping-you-to-decide/about-organ-donation/consent/#:~:text=Non%2Droutine%20transplants,specific%20agreement%20from%20your%20family.

Putting women’s reproductive organs into men is hardly likely to become commonplace is it. How many men do we think actually want this? I think it’s being hyped up on both sides and the reality is very few men would actually take up the offer of a womb.

And at that point, should it become a thing, I’ll either opt out of donating reproductive organs if that’s an option, or if it isn’t (which seeing as you can opt out of donating standard organs already seems unlikely) then I would weigh up the chances of my womb ending up in a man compared to the chances of my kidneys and liver and heart saving peoples lives AND ID JUST CARRY ON BEING AN ORGAN DONOR. I just honestly can’t believe people are willing to deny others the chance of life on the teeniest tiniest remotest possibility that against their wishes their womb will be taken out and put in a man.

This is the crux of the issue. The Opt out system has muddied the waters. Not all women would;
a, Be aware that they are automatically opted in to donation
b, Have the capacity to make their objections to uterine or any other donation, noted in a will
c, Have an actual will
d, Have a NOK
e, Have discussed any of this with any NOK
f, Remember that in 10 years time they need to go back on the register and opt out of uterine donation, so may decide to just opt out now

Why not amend the donation forms now so people can opt out of specific donations now and in the future, without jeopardising the number of registered donors?

Yeah it's great. And it doesn't change the appearance of your eyes either