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?

I have often wondered if anyone who objects to organ donation has ever said no to one.By a law of averages there must be some people who object who have been saved by it.You can never really know until you are that ill I can't imagine there is much you would say no to if you thought it would keep you alive.

I don't actually know anyone who is against organ donation but not sure if they are all on the register.

Stupid question but why is there such a shortage of organs when everyone I speak to is happy for their organs to be donated?

Seatbelts. Docs used to have a ready supply of organs from car crashes.

Actually I've heard A&E consultants describe (live) bikers as 'organ donors'...

(before anyoen gets outraged about doctors, this is a standing joke)

I tend to agree with the op, obviously children and those medically unable to would be the exceptions but would this stance not encourage more people to sign up. Surely a lot of people who will need transplants in the future don't know it at this moment and could sign up?

Also, I believe the family should not be consulted afterwards if someone has signed up. Would this not be easier for the family if the decision was taken out of their hands?

As a final point, in the unimaginable horror of losing a loved one in such tragic circumstances would the thought of their heart beating in someone elses body not provide comfort?

The huge advance in trauma care has reduced number of suitable donors. Also things like the Alderhey Organ retention scandal caused numbers to drop at the time.
I think though the main reason is ignorance around the whole subject of donating and receiving organs. People believe stories such as "If you carry a card then they won't try as hard to save you." Stories in the press about organs being offered to patients in Europe and private patients puts people off as well. What the story neglects to mention is that that organ has been offered to every transplant centre in the UK and it doesn't match anyone on the list, before it's offered elsewhere.
The best thing we can do is to talk to our loved ones about what we want to happen to our organs when we die. We make wills to let people know what we want done with our posessions, why not our bodies?

I would like to see an opt out system, where if you do not want to donate then you carry a card and make your wishes known.

I now live in Singapore where there is an opt out system in place. Most opt out for religious/cultural reason (Muslims being the largest group of opt outs). I always used to donate blood in England when I could but can't here because of the Mad Cow thing. What I did find interesting though was this article that appeared in the papers recently
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/1544379/Singapores-compulsory-organ-transplants.html

I have had 2 transplants and am unable to donate anything

My healthy 22yo db was killed after coming of a bike and being hit by a car. He wasnt on the donor register and my parents were not asked about donating any organs/tissue. I think my db was an exception to the joke (i have heard it before) I know of 1 organ that couldnt have been used from the damage, the rest i can only assume couldnt be used due to internal bleeding.

so sorry shelley

If the next of kin refuse, the donation doesn't go ahead.
I find this wrong,

Arg computer crashed and ds posted it before id finished. It should say aswell that donating organs or asking about it wasnt at the front of any of our minds.

Thanks noddy didnt put it on here for that

"I would like to see an opt out system, where if you do not want to donate then you carry a card and make your wishes known."

and how do you ensure that everyone knows about their right to opt-out??

How do you ensure that everyone understands their rights in terms of opting in?

Which is more harmful, the person who didn't get the chance to donate because they didn't know how to or that they could or the person whose organs are donated against their wishes?

Well I have just joined because of this - as others have said I just hadn't given it much thought before.

Out of interest's sake - has anyone else been offered the chance to donate anywhere except when donating blood in rl? I'm just wondering where, if I wasn't interested enough to find out on internet (it's not always something you think about, is it?), you'd get the information?

Perhaps doctors' surgeries could send out information leaflets or discuss it with you when you go? Just an idea.

I've seen leaflets at the GPs.

I'm on the register - but I do wonder what difference does it make whether you're on the register on not given that it's the next of kins decision?

Is it so the have an idea of "numbers"?

What is the register actually for

To everyone who says 'How will you make sure people know that they have to be on the register or they don't get an organ'... well, like people know they have to have their car taxed, that they're supposed to have a smear soon, that tax evasion is illegal. It's not that difficult. Send letters to everyone, and additionally when people go to the GP, the GP has to talk to them about it and say 'Hmm, you're not on the register, you do know this means xyz?'

How about this scenario, I carry a donor card, My dad is going to be eligable for transplant in about 10 mnths. In 10 mnths I can offer him an organ, however! If I were to die he would not necessarily get offered one of my organs, because I carry a card my organs can be distributed to anyone and I would like my dad to get 1st refusal.

This scenario has happened in rl so its not hypothetical. In my situation would you cancel your donor card for the time being?

InMyLittleHEad - that is a fairytale world where EVERYONE knows and understands those things.

Those on the fringes of society will be the ones who don't get the information.

yabu, my daughter had two transplants and she died a very horrible death in agony shortly after the second one. The technology is in place to grow new organs and repair damaged ones with stem cells, transplants seem rather frankenstein to me.. if less transplants occured then the government would be forced to back the use of safer and more innovative treatments.

Anyway, my rant aside, it is completely inappropriate in the meantime to discriminate against people when a treatment may save their life. People may not register for many different reasons.

I went to a very interesting debate about 'presumed consent' - ie the opt-out idea. There were three speakers for, and three against - the most outspoken AGAINST opt-out was a transplant recipient, and the most outspoken audience member AGAINST was a chap sitting in front of me, who was again a (far more recent) transplant recipient. I went from thinking of course opt-out was the way to go, to being really unconvinced one way or the other. The argument that got me thinking was that when opt-out has been introduced in other countries, it has only succeeded if there has been MASSIVE publicity around it, and it then becomes impossible to say whether it's the publicity and increased awareness, or the opt-out legislation, that's caused the increase in transplants. In some countries it's gone hugely wrong, and the legislation has been reversed. There was also the fact that the infrastructure to ensure that the right decisions were made (you need to be very VERY sure that someone hasn't opted out before you taken their organs) is huge and complicated, and that ethically you would still need to allow next of kin to veto the decision not to opt-out ... it's far more complicated than I'd realised.

Someone there mentioned the OP's idea of not-on-register, don't-get-organ. None of the panellists agreed. Personally, I thought of a situation where a whole family is not keen on organ donation, no one carries a card, no one on the register - not religious, they all just think it's a bit ick, inasmuch as they think about it at all. Then one of them gets sick, needs a transplant. Scenario 1 - he's not on the register, so he is refused a transplant. He dies the family are retrenched in their views, transplants are bad. Those parts of him which could have been used despite his illness, are not used. Nothing changes. Scenario 2 - he receives a transplant. He gets better. He registers as a donor, although he knows few parts of him will be fit for transplant. The family are so grateful for his recovery that some of them register. One starts giving blood ... something changes.