Organ Donation

[flip-flop]

The families of people who carry donor cards cannot override the dead persons wishes anymore.

Hurrah - this is absolutely right, isn't it? For the life of me I can't see an argument against it - by ignoring the wishes of their deceased loved one they are disrespecting his or her final wishes, aren't they?

Should we go one step further and have an opt-out system?

Yes.

[Loosehead]

Yes it's right that the wishes of the person take priority.

No I don't think we should have an opt out scheme. I just don't trust the donor system to wait until you are dead before stripping out spare parts. I think (though I'm prepared to be corrected) that some of the parts are useless when the body is dead anyway. For that reason I don't carry a donor card. I'm listening if someone can reassure me that my fears are baseless.

[Oneeyedvic]

Just been watching BBC lunchtime news - and they were interviewing someone on this subject - who stated that even if someone did want their organs to be donated, if their family / next of kin felt strongly opposed they would not use the organs.

To answer your question, I agree with an opt out system.

Please make sure you have registered your details here as well as carrying a card: https://www.uktransplant.org.uk/ukt/RegistrationForm.do

[WaldoMcFroog]

Obviously this is some sort of freak deviancy on their part and I expect they'll soon be back to demanding flogging for puppies who poo in the street and the death penalty for those who don't know verse three of the national anthem, but I entirely agree with Flap-Jack and Loosehead.

*chokes*

Next to the bit on the Doner Card that reads "In the Event of My Death" mine reads "bring me back to life".

I like to think it will bring a smile to someone's face as they go through my pockets tro find out who the corpse belongs to.

[Loosehead]

Get with it waldo, not knowing verse 3 is a relatively minor offence, usually 24 lashes of the cat!

[sp1814]

Hang on, hang on...what's this 'opt out' thing? Would I have to have a card which says my organs AREN'T to be harvested in the event of my death?

Say if I leave the card at home or something???

Don't get me wrong - I'm signed up to the Anthony Nolan bone marrow list, so it's not like I'm a selfish person...it's just that I don't know how the opt out would work.

[jake-the-peg]

I think an opt-out system would be good. It's already the system in France and Belgium amoungst other places.

If Loosehead doesn't trust the doctors (and the transplant doctors have to be different to those treating the donor already) then he can opt out!

So I can't see how that's a valid objection

Obviously you'd have to ensure this did not apply to foreign nationals - imagine the row if an American who was passing through Heathrow dropped down dead and was stripped of organs!

[jake-the-peg]

No sp

There's a register which would match your Social Security ID on the database. If you were really paranoid you could wear a medic alert kind of tag to make sure all your bits went safely up in smoke or fed the worms

[Loosehead]

The point is Jake, as pointed out by Sp I don't want to have to carry a "Non Donor" card. Do you know about this magnetic tag / Ni number system or are you just assuming that's what the authorites would do?

If it's already the system in some EU countries then do they just harvest first and ask questions later regardless of nationality?

The point is I've heard horror stories about scalpel happy doctors hacking people up before they are dead. As mentioned in my post above reassure me if you can.

[beryllium]

The only things I dont want to be harvested are my eyes.
More than welcome to the rest of it. :-)

[sp1814]

Loosehead:

"ve heard horror stories about scalpel happy doctors hacking people up before they are dead"

That's funny, in a very sick kind of way.

I want Keith Richard liver when he passes away, because it's obviously made of much better material than mine.

[Greedyfly]

Why not make it the law and make EVERYONE donate organs that are donatable that would settle the entire argument and upset even more people.

[Greedyfly]

I don't sit well with this at all, I don't carry a card and I honestly don't know if I want to be donor just yet. But I know when someone in your family dies and you have to deal with this it isn't easy whether you have the card to say yes I am a donor or not. But on the same token dependant on how you die they remove everything for autopsy anyways and then bag it up and put it back in so it kinda defeats the object - maybe this is me talking myself into it?

[malibu-sioux]

So the dead persons wishes is to be more important than anyone elses,what a pity the dying arent giving the same respect when they have chosen to die,their wishes arent so important then are they??

[rojash]

Very good point, malibu-sioux.

[ali_alic]

I am all for the opt out system. After all most people aren't donars merely through lack of action. If we had the opt-out system then there would be loads of organs available and therefore no need to worry about knife wealding surgeons who are scalpel-happy. This thread was posted on AB a couple of months ago and it got quite heated.