AIBU To think that if you are not on a doner register you should give up any rights to a donated organ?

[littlemoominmamma]

Do you think this would be a reasonable idea? If you have an organ donation card you should be entitled to an organ.... if not then that is your choice?

Awww, if you can rent Volver on DVD it's well worth seeing. I think I actually cried a little towards the end.

All About My Mother is fab (you have excellent taste, my dear!) - I'm sure we have it on video somewhere...yes - we still have a video machine!

I think we're drawing closer in our arguments, as I think I am also saying that nobody is 'entitled' as such to anything, really, but we expect to have some things as a basic right, such as good parenting, good medical care, good food and a non-leaky roof over our heads. Sadly writing that list makes me realise how many people, globally speaking, do not have the possibility of those basics needs of life. In any case as medicine advances it is only reasonable to expect that we should have a good shot at being able to avail ourselves of those advancements, and IMO organ donation is included in that. I wonder whether a schools education programme (not pushing the responsibility onto teachers, but onto visiting specialists) would help to normalise the idea of donating organs, as I genuinely don't understand why some people feel uncomfortable about giving away an organ that they'll never need.

On a separate note, I was idling away my thoughts onto the Asian and Russian women who sell their hair for Westerners' extensions, and then I recalled that the Nazis shaved the heads of their Jewish prisoners to make soap. Not only am I amazed that one can make soap from hair, but I've never understood why, if they vilified Jews so much, they would be happy to bathe with soap made from their hair. Is that an abnormal question to ask? I'd be horrified to bathe with soap from anyone's hair, but surely if the Nazis believed all the propaganda crap about Jews being dirty, etc etc, it's all the more bizarre? IIRC they even harvested the hair from their brushes after they murdered them. I remember seeing hundreds of hairbrushes in a display cabinet at Auschwitz, though can't recall whether they had hair in them. I do remember that it made me cry, though.

Just an idle thought from the mind of MrsMH.

It's not an unreasonable suggestion.

I don't think you should make it a rule even though being willing to take, but not willing to give, is pretty selfish.

Those saying "oh but I couldn't donate for health reasons" are kinda missing the point since it would be possible to agree in principle even if they didn't need/want anything from you.

What is unfair is if someone says "I ain't letting them muck about with my body" and then is all of a sudden demanding to be at the head of the transplant queue.

Donation probably should be Opt-Out so that those who don't care automatically donate. Relatives should NOT be consulted unless the donor is under 18.

Why they made that rule in the first place I don't know. Imagine if relatives could veto you getting a transplant.

Unagar - you are much better at wording this than i am, I guess I was just thinking, as you do, and putting your feelings online is a difficult thing to do.

As someone who has received an organ transplant, I think an opt out system is very worrying as people may resent the idea of having their organs (or their loved ones) removed without their wishes and may create a backlash against the whole idea of donation.

This thread has shown that some people feel very strongly that they wouldn't want to have their organs removed after death. Fair enough, each to their own. However, the OP's point is that people unwilling to denote should not get an organ. I don't agree, however, (disclaimer- I have no idea of the statistics on this) but I doubt very many people refuse a transplant if that is their only option. It is easy to sit from a position of good health and find the idea too icky or gruesome.

People who have transplants do not just carry on with their lives without a backward glance. Not a day goes by without me thinking of the person who died and their relatives who donated their organ. I can never thank them enough but I hope that it gives them comfort to know so many people were helped by their gift.

mrsmerryhenry- ROFL! I have it on VHS and DVD! We also have a video player!

I'm a bit tired to make another argument but just wanted to tell you about my video player!!!

If you are able to have a say in who your organ goes to who knows where that will end.

Thread is so long I (and I hate people who do this) that I haven't read it,other than OP.

I agree with OP-other than not carrying a donor card-should be a database.

Signing up to the register has no impact and takes 2 mins,giving blood takes more commttment from the donor.

I personally think we should have an "opt-out" system and if you opt out,you should not have a right to a donor organ.Contraversial maybe but my very strong opinion.

agree with jollybear.

lol ruby - I have been desperate to say that but was told it was bad form to mention spelling mistakes! I'd love to sign up to a kebab register but I'd imagine it may lead to some coronary artery disease...

Due to differences is donation rates amongst different ethnic groups this could mean that the current struggle to increase Afro-caribbean and Asian transplantation would be scuppered.

We already have major problems recruiting from some ethnic groups . Not sure that pressurising people re: not getting an organ themselves. Since these very groups are more likely to suffer from diseases leading to e.f. kidney failure it could mean that there would be a growth in untreated ' ethnic minorities'.

I reckon a fair few people who would've donated organs would not on principle because of this rule. I am one. I've thought about it a lot over the last few days and decided if they made this the rule I would opt out of the scheme because I didn't agree with the scheme rather than the donation so under an opt in scheme they'd get my organs but under an opt out they wouldn't. I don't think I'd be alone, I think a lot of people would feel uncomfortable with the thought of it. I mean if people object to the government believing they had a right to film them without permission then I reckon they'd object to the idea that their organs would be taken without their permission which is effectively what this scheme suggests. I would not want to recieve an organ from a scheme of this sort either, I would only want one that I could reasonably assume had been freely given.

The reason they haven't already done this is probably a legal reason. It is probably because the law requires that consent is given. Assumming consent unless specified is not at all the same as giving consent.

I understand your sentiment but in reality most people needing an organ are desperate and are not that fussed about the way in which that organ was obtained as long as the organ is healthy and no harm was imparted to the donor.

scarletti - yes but they wouldn't make the decision when they were desperate would they, they'd make the decision theoretically before they needed a donation. If you allowed them to make the decision to go on he register in order to get an organ that wouldn't be fair whether they could take their name off it again after or not. The whole thing is just an impractical rather worrying idea.

Jollybear: "As someone who has received an organ transplant, I think an opt out system is very worrying as people may resent the idea of having their organs (or their loved ones) removed without their wishes and may create a backlash against the whole idea of donation."

But surely the point is that you can opt out and so organs needn't be taken against a person's wishes.

Re ethnic minority donation - that's a good point. It always surprises me when I hear that EMs in the UK (crap abbreviation, I know) don't donate as much as white people, whether it be organs, eggs or anything else. I am an EM and wouldn't bat an eyelid about this - were I not too old to donate my eggs I'd have given loads away by now!

curiosity - I don't understand this viewpoint - if you were to opt out to 'spite' the government, so to speak, you'd be disadvantaging innocent people who need transplants. I don't understand why someone would protest in this way.

The greatest value of opt out is that everyone would have to be asked in order for the system to be valid and ethical. Even if it doesn't change people's minds it would allow society to benefit from those to apathetic to register as a donor as they may become people to apathetic to object.

mrshenry - It wouldn't be to spite anyone. It would be because I just fundamentally disagreed with the way the scheme was conducted and didn't want to be associated with it in any way.

Scarletti - you're absolutely right. Apathy is such a problem in this country, in all aspects of life.

Curiosity - oh, I see. But still, it would mean that someone who might have otherwise received your organs now won't do so. That's the bit I don't get.