George Best.

[maggie01]

I have just heard George Best is back in hospital and apparently in a bad way. Its sad that he couldn't kick the habbit after he had his transplant although his problem now is due to his medication rather than the drink. If he pulls through I can't see him giving up the drink. How would you feel if a member of your family donated a liver and basically it has been abused.

[youngmafbog]

Its a very good point, however I dont think it would be possible to distinguish between patients, where would you draw the line ?

On the same vein though, I am all for a national database of doners. If you are on the database willing to give your organs on death then you would get first choice should you need an organ whilst living. Of course if the organ is not satisfactory for any recipients then anyone else should be given the chance, even if they are like Mr Best, after all you dont want to waste valuable parts.

[maggie01]

yes I agree with what you say it is just a shame that he couldn't see the gift he had been given.

[andy hughes]

There is a worrying use of the moral high ground among those who feel that recipients of donated organs should measure up to some sort of moral tick list in their future conduct. I would be diasppointed if I had donated organs from a loved one, and they were abused, but that donation does not give me any kind of power, real or imaginary, in saying how someone else lives their life - I simply don't have that right ever, and it's not passed to me by my action.

What next - Conservative hearts only for proven Conservative voters - where do we stop? We don;t, so better not to start.

Individuals are flawed, make bad decisions, live their lives in a way which others think is wasteful or imoral, but who among us has the right to say they cannot have access to life-prolonging drugs or surgery? hands up anyone? Thought not.

[maggie01]

I agree just by being a donor does not give you the right to say who gets what but how many times has George Best been in and out of hospital using up other resources because he can't kick the habbit.(I realise being an alcaholic it is very difficult). I just feel being given this chance of life its a pity he did not make better use of it. Thats just opinion and I don't expect everyone to agree with me. Maybe I am of an age where you realise that life if precious and you only get one stab at it.

[WoWo]

Perhaps you could have waited for somebody to answer before saying, thought not.

I'm saying they can't have access to my body parts if they are basically going to go straight out and do the very same thing that ruined their own liver.

There's a big difference between somebody who has been born with a body part which doesn't function and a body part which has been damaged by abuse.

It's not some sort of moral ticklist as you call it, it's a direct relation between the donated body part and abuse.

[surfer mike]

Great sensible post that andy...couldn't agree more.

Alcholism is a illness.

All the best to him i hope he pulls through

[stevie21]

If I was lying on my death bed and the doctor asked if I minded my liver being donated to George Best, I'd say yes. Give it to someone more deserving.
I hope he gets better, just not at the expense of someone younger who could have had a transplant instead of him.

It's all very well to say that I'm not God and I don't have the right to decide who lives and who gets transplants but the fact remains that it's someone's job to make these decisions. Doctors do this on a daily basis so it's perfectly fair and valid to have this debate.

[Oneeyedvic]

Surely a donation is a donation. - no strings attached.

There was a case around a year ago where a person agreed that his organs could be donated so long as it didn't go to an ethnic minority.

I believe the hospital decided not to use his organs at all.

i doubt you would know who gets offered your organs, but what about if it was a different alcoholic (ie not someone famous). Should people fill in a questionaire? What about if they are overweight - should they need to diet before a transplant?

Personally, I am happy for my organs to be used, as i would have no need for them - they can either rot inside my body or help someone else - and I am fairly certain that I could find something that I disagreed with with any potential donee (?)

[stevie21]

I'm not claiming that I'd expect to be consulted - just that in the impossibly unlikely event that I was asked I'd rather that my organs didn't go to alcoholics or other people *who would then abuse the organ*.
Being famous (or an ethnic minority) doesn't come into it. You're not really implying that there's a parallel between this ethnic minority example and me?

I know that I won't be asked and I actually carry a donor card at all times (just had a look at it : the date I've written on it is 1996!!) saying you can use ANY part of my body.

"i doubt you would know who gets offered your organs" - especially not if I was dead! haha

I think my point boils down to this - if there are 3 livers to be transplanted and 10 people needing transplants then, of those ten, anyone likely to continue their alcoholism would be shunted down my list of "donees" (nice word there Vic!).

[atolhurst]

I'm glad I'm not waiting for a liver donantion otherwise I'm sure my comment would include much stronger language. It is wrong to say "Mr X can't have an organ, because he's an Elvis fan" or so on, but I do feel that if someone takes an organ when there are lots of other people waiting, they should do the best they can to make the most of it and in a legal sense, perhaps sign a document or take extra measures (didn't Best have something in his stomach that made him hurl if he drank alcohol...what happened to that?) to ensure that the recepient doesn't slip into bad habits. Especially since the damage done was self inflicted.

The bottom line is that he wanted a replacement organ and a second chance and he got one. Where as I'm sure others didn't because they ran out of time waiting for an organ. So he had that and seemed very grateful, but to go and fall off the wagon again is really cr*p of him. Perhaps he's lying in his hospital bed expecting another new organ??? I chuffing hope not.

[WoWo]

Thanks for the three stars (glad I wasn't totally on my own).

I should however make my position a little clearer. I haven't got a donor card at the moment, but have certainly had one in the past and filled out the odd form or two. My wife knows I'd be happy to donate any part of my body that would be usefull.

But what I'm saying is I'd be a bit p*ssed off if I found out that the person who got my liver had treated it with pretty much zero respect and carried on doing what they had done to mess up their own liver.

The actual question was "ow would you feel if a member of your family donated a liver and basically it has been abused." I was simply responding to that.