Organ Donation

[MrBurns]

I've heard you are still alive when they "harvest" your organs, then they switch off the life support.

That turns me off somewhat.

No doubt organ donation saves lives, are you a donor? what do you think about it ?

 

[Riddick]

Not an organ donor, make no moral judgement about whether folk deserve my organs or not. I understand that a dead organ is no good to prospective recipients - several hours dead at least anyway - but find it hard to believe there is legal justification for taking an organ from a living individual, even if the prognosis is grim. People do, afterall survive many years in non responsive vegetative states and no one turns off life support or harvests their organs.
Where did you come by this information?

 

[MrBurns]

Not an organ donor, make no moral judgement about whether folk deserve my organs or not. I understand that a dead organ is no good to prospective recipients - several hours dead at least anyway - but find it hard to believe there is legal justification for taking an organ from a living individual, even if the prognosis is grim. People do, afterall survive many years in non responsive vegetative states and no one turns off life support or harvests their organs.
Where did you come by this information?

As I understand it the organs are harvested while you are still alive because they have to be "alive" at that point otherwise the transplant wont succeed.

You are of course only being kept alive by machine at the time.

 

[overit]

If I am buggered and on life support and these people are good enough to turn it off for me then they can have whatever they want.

 

[Julia]

Mr Burns, if you do a quick Search, you'd see there's an existing thread on this.

Mods: if you could merge these threads, that would be good.

Mr B. Could you post a link or a quote to back up your suggestion that organs are taken from a live donor? I doubt this very much, at least in Australia.
In some third world countries people do sell e.g. one kidney, purely for the money.

That is not going to happen within the Australian health system.

What are you suggesting actually happens? That you're in hospital a bit sick with something non-life-threatening, and someone comes along and says, "oh, by the way, we need a kidney for a patient in the next ward. Just hold still there for a bit, and we'll nick one of yours. It won't hurt much".

There was an item quite recently on ABC Radio about a new process which allows donated organs to be kept much longer than has previously been the case.

Whatever the process, not nearly enough Australians have registered as organ donors. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want to help a living person with one or many of their organs once they no longer have a use for them.

 

[MrBurns]

If I am buggered and on life support and these people are good enough to turn it off for me then they can have whatever they want.

I think they turn it off AFTER they take the goodies, thats the creepy bit.

 

[MrBurns]

Mr Burns, if you do a quick Search, you'd see there's an existing thread on this.

Mods: if you could merge these threads, that would be good.

.

If thats the case it would be 2 in one night, I'll be accused of thread copying, which results in a penalty of receiving a printed copy of robots best posts, a very short printout but painful non the less.

 

[overit]

I think they turn it off AFTER they take the goodies, thats the creepy bit.

Would you even know... If they want to pull some parts out good luck to them I wont be needing them. Just pull the plug when your done.

 

[MrBurns]

Mr B. Could you post a link or a quote to back up your suggestion that organs are taken from a live donor? I doubt this very much, at least in Australia.
In some third world countries people do sell e.g. one kidney, purely for the money.

That is not going to happen within the Australian health system.

What does organ donation involve?
Organ donation is more likely when a person has died on a ventilator machine in a hospital's intensive care unit (ICU). Often this is due to stroke or a catastrophic injury caused by a motor vehicle accident. Even after brain death, blood will be artificially pumped around the body to keep the organs healthy. In brain death, the brain can no longer function at all, and there is no possibility of recovery. The brainstem is also be dead, and there is no blood flow to the brain.

A person may also be able to donate if he or she has suffered irreversible injuries and will not recover. After treatment is ceased, the heart will stop beating and the blood will stop circulating around the body. After death, the body will be prepared for organ retrieval.

Two medical practitioners will perform tests to confirm brain death in a patient. The family of the deceased will be consulted about the possibility of donation. If the family gives consent, then the members of the Standing Committee of the Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) will find a suitable recipient. They use specific criteria to decide how to allocate organs. The organs are then harvested from the deceased in exactly the same way as any other surgical procedure. This does not significantly alter the body's physical shape or appearance. Under Australian law, the donor's family will not be able to meet the recipient. This is to respect the privacy of both parties involved.

For more information about the process of donation and transplantation, see Heart Transplant, Lung Transplant, Liver Transplant, and Renal Transplantation.

http://www.virtualmedicalcentre.com/Treatments.asp?sid=122#C4

 

[MrBurns]

Would you even know... If they want to pull some parts out good luck to them I wont be needing them. Just pull the plug when your done.

Not while I'm still alive thanks.

 

[Chris45]

If thats the case it would be 2 in one night, I'll be accused of thread copying, which results in a penalty of receiving a printed copy of robots best posts, a very short printout but painful non the less.

ROFL!!!

 

[Tink]

Yep, I am a donor.

If you dont need them and you can save another life, why not

 

[Julia]

Mr B, where do you get the idea that you're still alive when organ retrieval occurs? In the excerpt you provided, it clearly says it happens when the patient is brain dead.

 

[MrBurns]

Mr B, where do you get the idea that you're still alive when organ retrieval occurs? In the excerpt you provided, it clearly says it happens when the patient is brain dead.

Brain dead but the body still lives, I'm not entirely convinced that brain dead is actually dead in any case they take you apart while you're still breathing.

 

[sails]

Brain dead but the body still lives, I'm not entirely convinced that brain dead is actually dead in any case they take you apart while you're still breathing.

I understand that the body is not alive. It is brain dead with no future possibility of life. When machines are turned off (even with organs), there is no way the brain can crank up vital functions.

No, you would not still breathing - a machine does whatever is necessary to keep the organs warm and oxygenated. I understand a person is not considered to be breathing unless they are doing it on their own without the assistance of a machine.

Hubby used to pilot aeroplanes for organ donation as part of his job. I got to meet the organ donation team several times at social functions and they are not like vultures. They are kind, caring professionals who also showed the utmost respect for the donor and their living family who allowed their loved one's organs give the chance of life to another person.

I believe it is not the donation team that determine whether the donor is brain dead - that is done by the donor's own physicians who, of course, would have done everything in their power to restore life.

I actually asked the same question as you, Mr Burns - that I wouldn't want to have any chance of life when the organs were removed. I was assured emphatically that there are very strict processes in place that removes any potential conflict of interest.

 

[mellifuous]

I was assured emphatically that there are very strict processes in place that removes any potential conflict of interest.

New age word dictionary (just made up this afternoon)

'trust me' = 'give me your organs' --- now, now, limit the meaning to lungs, eyes, hearts, kidneys, livers and the like.

not to be confused with 'trust me' = 'give me your money'.

 

[Happy]

...

I was assured emphatically that there are very strict processes in place that removes any potential conflict of interest.

Well, just words and as we know things can happen.

If some organs are needed badly, even without too much imagination we can think of what can happen!

 

[gooner]

I've signed up for everything - they can have my heart, eyes, kidneys, liver. Whatever. I understand that donations can be life saving/changing for recipients, so why wouldn't you?

They don't want my blood though - too high a risk of CJV (?) because I lived in England when mad cow disease was rampant.

 

[Happy]

Scary part is that if our credit cards information can be quite easily skimmed and misused.

How much would it take to go through the list of potential donors, find the matching parts and then stage some mishap?

Far-fetched, maybe, but probable.

If euthanasia is not allowed as it could be abused, why this body parts donation cannot be?

 

[sails]

Well, just words and as we know things can happen.

If some organs are needed badly, even without too much imagination we can think of what can happen!

I understand that the recipient transplant surgical team have no say whatsoever in making a decision on whether a person is brain dead or not. They are informed that organs are available for donation - and from there they work out compatible recipients.

It is up the the patient's own medical team (usually in emergency) who would have fought to save their patient's life in the first place. They would not know about any desperate people waiting in another state or hospital. And I believe there has to be a second opinion before a person is pronounced brain dead. It's not taken lightly.

These dedicated transplant medicos are into saving lives - not killing one off to maybe save another. There is always risk of rejection with transplanted organs - so it makes no sense that they would deliberately let someone die that had a fair chance of recovery.

IMO, if organs are genuinely of no further use, no point letting them rot or burn. Seems such a waste...