It seems to me like a harmless and altruistic thing to do. What could be more generous than bequeathing parts of my body to others who urgently need them?
And yet there's still a large number of people who oppose organ donation. Transplant waiting lists are growing and yet 2½ million people are refusing to help. The number of organ donations is actually falling.
What on earth is stopping people from becoming organ donors? Once you're dead you have no further use for your bodily organs so why shouldn't they be passed on to people who desperately need them? The dead person isn't going to object, so what's the problem?
So what if granny was totally opposed to organ donations? Surely the urgent need of a living patient for a vital organ trumps the well-meaning observance of granny's wishes?
I gave permission for my dad's corneas to be used. I like to think there's a part of him still seeing the world.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: That's a lovely thought.
DeleteI've been an organ donor since the program started, which is decades ago. People are too strange to ponder. The self-centered attitude which has permeated US society doesn't help.
ReplyDeleteSandra: Yes, the fashionable obsession with individualism is thoroughly destructive.
DeleteI've actually never heard of anyone 'against' organ donation, but I'm sure there are some. However, I wouldn't go against someone's wish to not have their organs transplanted.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: Interesting that you wouldn't go against someone's wishes. But would that apply to their wishes about other things?
DeleteI don't think it's right to go against someone's wishes if they've gone to the trouble to express them to you.
ReplyDeleteMary: See my reply to Bijoux. Would that apply to other wishes?
DeleteYes, I don't see why not. Unless someone wished for something that was either illegal, or that I couldn't physically do. But I would have talked about that with them before they passed.
DeleteMY late husband Ken let us know that he didn't want his organs donated (I don't either) and that he wanted to be cremated. Both things we talked about and agreed to do. So I think if it's feasible to grant someone's last wishes like that. to do it. It's their body, why would I go against what they wanted done with their own body?
In the province of Alberta I don't need a separate organ donor card because I have a heart on my driver's licence, which means donor. I heard they were going to make it the default to put the heart on unless the driver getting a licence renewal objected, but I don't know what became of the idea. ... The organ donor act is on-line, but it makes my eyes glaze over.
ReplyDeleteI think granny's wishes out to be honored but sure wish more people would agree to donate. My mother's remains went to a science center for study (she had Alzheimers) and my driver's license has had me listed as a donor for many years. But, I am also a big believer in you do you.
ReplyDeleteLinda
In principle I do agree, Nick. However, given my parents' longevity (my mother only just died aged ninety two; my father not exactly dancing on her grave but still alive - talk about good genes) I dare say that by the time I kick the bucket all my body parts will be too rusty to be of any long term use to anyone.
ReplyDeleteU
It's not "granny" who is the problem, her organs are old and depending how she's died, may not be healthy enough to transplant.
ReplyDeleteA lot of people believe that life saving measures are not a priority if a person has consented to donation. If this is the thought process, then there will be no consent.
Sometimes there's also a religious expectation that a body will be buried intact.